Five of the Magnificent 7 reported earnings this week: All but Meta jumped afterward, with Amazon hitting a record high, Axios' Madison Mills reports.

• The results, and the market response, capture the debate consuming Wall Street: How much return can the tech giants get on AI, their biggest bet ever?

Demand for AI infrastructure, tools and power outstrips supply, notes Evan Schlossman of investment fund SuRo Capital.

• "That is what's directly leading to this increase in spending."

👓 Zoom in: This quarter, companies laid out clearer cases for their AI investments.

• Meta and Google said AI is fueling higher ad revenue.
• Microsoft talked about demand for its AI tools from cloud customers.
• Apple teased an AI-enabled Siri coming in 2026.

By the numbers: Wall Street thinks that by 2026, the big tech companies will spend about 94% of their operating cash (after certain items) on AI projects, according to Bank of America.

• That's up from 76% in 2024, showing how quickly AI spending is taking off.

🧐 Between the lines: All these companies are spending big on AI, but only Meta got dinged for it, even though its ratio of spending to revenue is the lowest among peers.

• Investors were pleased with Meta's "year of efficiency" in 2023 and may feel as if Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is "treating shareholders' cash as if it's his cash," Gil Luria, managing director at the investment firm D.A. Davidson, tells Axios.
• Zuckerberg told investors Wednesday: "Being able to make a significantly larger investment here is very likely to be a profitable thing ... over some period."

The bottom line: AI is a highly expensive bet, and nobody knows yet if it will pay off.

• So far, companies are spending their own money. But if they take on debt to fuel AI development, and demand doesn't catch up, that could shake up America's whole financial system, Luria says.

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It's not enough to talk about AI in general on earnings calls anymore. OpenAI is the new keyword, with 31 mentions on major corporate earnings transcripts so far this quarter.

• Why it matters: OpenAI isn't just dominating the AI ecosystem, but influencing the market as a whole, Axios' Madison Mills writes.

💥 By the numbers: Four times in the past two months, announcements of OpenAI-related deals sent shares of Oracle, Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom soaring.

• That boosted the combined market value of these stocks by $630 billion just one day of trading after each reveal, according to FactSet and The Wall Street Journal.

Read on.

Socialism beats capitalism among U.S. college students, Axios' Erica Pandey and Margaret Talev write from a new Axios-Generation Lab poll.

• 67% of survey respondents say they hold a positive or neutral association with the word "socialism," compared with 40% with the word "capitalism."

💡 Why it matters: The survey reveals Gen Z's growing disillusionment with capitalism — fueled by high inflation, surging health care and housing costs, and the rising influence of billionaires in politics, tech and media.

• Negative views of capitalism handily outweigh those of socialism: 53% v. 23%.

Partisan differences are stark: 47% of Democratic respondents and 31% of independents — but just 5% of Republicans — react positively to socialism.

• 45% of Republicans, but just 17% of independents and 7% of Democrats, have positive reactions to capitalism.

📊 The big picture: This rhymes with broader Gallup polling we told you about yesterday in our column about rising anti-AI socialism. Democrats view socialism more positively than capitalism, 66% to 42%. Among all voters, 54% view capitalism favorably — down from 60% in 2021.

• Go deeper ... "Behind the Curtain: Anti-AI socialist scenario," by Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen.

The U.S. has a third of the world's billionaires — but they hold 43% of global billionaire wealth, according to data firm Altrata's latest report.

• China is a distant No. 2, with 321 billionaires accounting for 10% of the wealth.

The big picture: "Surging stock markets lifted the fortunes of many of the world's richest people in 2024, leaving a record billionaire class of 3,508 individuals with $13.4 trillion in collective wealth, up 10% from a year earlier," The Wall Street Journal reports.

• Explore the data.

President Trump's political operation is digging into its massive war chest to bankroll a multimillion-dollar voter turnout effort in the final days of the New Jersey and Virginia governor races, Axios' Alex Isenstadt reports.

• Each state is getting a $1 million-plus micro-targeting effort aimed at Trump supporters and other Republicans who usually skip off-year races.

👀 Why it matters: The White House knows it's much harder to turn out pro-Trump voters and other Republicans when Trump himself isn't on the ballot.

• The Trump team views Tuesday's races as tough, but also a lab to determine how to turn out voters heading into 2026.

In New Jersey, the total now invested far surpasses what the Trump operation spent in 2017, when the pro-Trump forces essentially abandoned the state toward the end of the campaign, Republicans say.

• "Virginia has always been an incubator for testing tactics for the midterm election," a Trump adviser told Axios.

⏰ Zoom in: Pro-Trump entities, including the Republican National Committee, are fueling a "72-hour program" aimed at turning out GOP voters.

• They're identifying voters who are less likely to turn out by examining off-year voting histories and reaching them through phone-banking and digital and social media ads.

Keep reading.

The Democrats running for governor in Virginia and New Jersey have brought in a parade of high-profile lawmakers and potential 2028 presidential contenders to campaign for them in the run-up to Tuesday's elections.

• But they pointedly haven't invited progressive leaders Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who are two of the most popular figures among Democrats and attract big crowds across the country, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

Why it matters: Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Virginia) and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (New Jersey) are betting that Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez would turn off independent voters even if they'd rally Democrats.

• Democrats expect to win both governors' races as well as the mayor's race in New York City — where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is favored — but the strategies in Virginia and New Jersey are wildly different from that of Mamdani.

🔎 Spanberger and Sherrill's decisions to stay away from Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez reflect a familiar Democratic calculus: Center-left candidates may not be trendy on social media, but they can win elections.

• Many Democratic operatives and politicians believe Sanders' left-wing policy positions are politically toxic outside of places such as heavily Democratic New York City and California.

Keep reading.

Most of the U.S. will fall back to standard time tomorrow — even as most of the country wants to sunset the biannual clock change.

• States can switch to year-round standard time, like Arizona and Hawaii have already done. But they can only adopt permanent daylight saving time with an act of Congress — making these measures effectively moot, absent federal action, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum, Alex Fitzpatrick and Erin Davis report.

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People are increasingly swapping smart devices for old-fashioned buttons, switches and knobs in their homes, Axios' Sami Sparber writes.

• Plus, reading nooks are being mentioned 48% more often in home listings compared with a year ago, according to Zillow's 2026 Home Trends Report.

The big picture: A home where "technology is always in the background, working and listening, feels anxiety-producing" instead of restorative, architect Yan M. Wang tells Axios.

• Rising costs for smart devices and tech troubleshooting can also cause headaches and push people away from smart home tech.

What we're watching: Landlines are also having a renaissance.

• Parents are adding them back to their homes to give their kids a way to chat with friends without personal smartphones, the Washington Post reports.

Keep reading.