Tech giants need legacy businesses to keep growing as they pour trillions into the AI buildout

The tech megacaps are collectively placing a multitrillion-dollar bet that their infrastructure spending will result in many years of profitable growth. But that's all in the future. For now, they're reliant on their legacy businesses — whether it's online advertising, business software or e-commerce — to fund their artificial intelligence ambitions. Earnings this quarter revealed new levels of strain on those core businesses and offered an early test of whether these companies can sustain extended bouts of spending. Meta joined Alphabet and Amazon in reporting negative free cash flow, leaving Microsoft as the lone hyperscaler to remain positive in that realm. Meta posted negative free cash flow of $2.