Daily Tech & GNSS News Digest - February 6, 2026

The AI infrastructure arms race reached a historic crescendo as four tech giants committed a combined $650 billion to capital expenditures in 2026—a level of corporate investment without modern parallel. Nvidia shares surged nearly 8% on the news, snapping a brutal losing streak. In GNSS news, Thales announced a €55 million investment to quadruple production of jam-resistant navigation systems in France, while the U.S. Space Force quietly terminated its Resilient GPS small satellite program.

Tech News

Big Tech Commits Record $650 Billion to AI Infrastructure in 2026

Four of the largest U.S. technology companies have collectively committed approximately $650 billion in capital expenditures for 2026—a staggering 60% increase from last year and a level of corporate investment that Bloomberg data shows has few modern parallels. The spending is entirely focused on AI infrastructure: data centers, chips, and networking equipment.

The individual commitments break down as follows: Amazon leads with $200 billion, Alphabet plans $175–185 billion, Microsoft’s run rate puts it at approximately $145 billion, and Meta will spend $115–135 billion. For context, the 21 largest U.S. companies outside tech—including automakers, defense contractors, telecoms, and Exxon—are projected to spend a combined $180 billion in 2026.

The spending announcements came during a tumultuous week for tech stocks, with the S&P 500 software and services index having lost over $950 billion in market value since companies began reporting earnings. Investors are caught between fear of missing the AI boom and concern about returns on unprecedented investment.

Nvidia Surges 8% as AI Spending Validates Chip Dominance

Nvidia shares soared as much as 7.7% Friday—adding more than $300 billion in market value in a single session—as investors snapped up the chipmaker positioned to capture the bulk of Big Tech’s AI spending. The surge snapped a five-day losing streak that had erased approximately $500 billion from Nvidia’s market cap.

The rebound was triggered by Amazon’s earnings call Thursday evening, where the company confirmed plans to spend $200 billion on data centers, chips, and related equipment. The headline figure validated Nvidia’s thesis that AI infrastructure demand remains far ahead of supply. Since January, Nvidia has staged a 15% recovery, outperforming the Nasdaq 100.

Nvidia now stands as a $4 trillion company—transitioning from chipmaker to what analysts describe as “the operating system of the artificial intelligence age.” With all four hyperscalers signaling increased spending, Jensen Huang’s bet on AI dominance continues to pay off even as the rest of tech struggles.

Amazon’s $200 Billion Capex Shocks Markets Despite Strong AWS Growth

Amazon announced the largest single-year capital expenditure commitment in corporate history—$200 billion for 2026—sending shares tumbling as much as 9% despite strong quarterly results. The figure exceeded Wall Street expectations by more than $50 billion and represents a 50% increase from 2025’s $131 billion.

AWS performance was stellar: cloud revenue grew 24% to $35.6 billion, the unit’s fastest growth in 13 quarters. CEO Andy Jassy defended the spending, citing “very high demand” for AI compute and insisting “this isn’t some sort of quixotic, top-line grab.” Amazon also launched its AI infrastructure project “Rainier,” bringing nearly half a million Trainium2 chips online—primarily for Anthropic’s Claude.

The market reaction underscored growing investor anxiety about the AI arms race. D.A. Davidson downgraded the stock to neutral, citing risks to cloud dominance and potential for AI to erode Amazon’s retail business. The trillion-dollar question remains whether unprecedented spending will generate commensurate returns.

Additional Headlines

Europe Raids X, Eyes Social Media Bans: French prosecutors raided X’s Paris offices as part of a probe into alleged Holocaust denial, deepfakes, and child exploitation content. Spain simultaneously announced plans to ban social media for children under 16. Elon Musk called Spain’s PM “a tyrant” in response.
Qualcomm Memory Crunch Deepens: Qualcomm shares fell 10% after guiding Q2 revenue below estimates, citing a global memory shortage as data center demand crowds out smartphone chip production. Q1 was a record despite the miss.
Software Selloff Continues: The trillion-dollar tech wipeout triggered by Anthropic’s Claude Cowork automation tool extended into a sixth session, with the iShares software ETF down nearly $1 trillion over seven days. Wedbush called the “Armageddon scenario” overblown.
Alphabet Revenue Tops $400B: Google parent exceeded $400 billion in annual revenue for the first time, with Q4 up 18% to $113.8 billion. Cloud surged 48% to $17.7 billion, though shares fell on the $185 billion capex guidance.

GNSS News

Thales has committed €55 million between 2025 and 2028 to expand industrial facilities in Châtellerault and Valence, France, dramatically scaling production of jam-resistant navigation systems. The investment addresses surging demand for positioning solutions resilient to GNSS jamming and spoofing.

The expansion centers on two technology pillars: TopAxyz inertial navigation systems providing fully autonomous navigation capability, and TopStar-M receivers equipped with TopShield anti-jamming solutions offering multi-constellation signal reception. Production capacity for inertial navigation systems at Châtellerault will increase fourfold by 2028, leveraging six decades of laser gyroscope expertise.

At Valence, mass production of TopStar-M receivers and TopShield systems begins this year, with a new line for inertial MEMS sensors establishing what Thales calls “the spearhead of France’s sovereign MEMS technology sector.” The initiative receives backing from France’s Directorate General of Armaments under the OMEGA program. Thales plans to hire 150 additional employees, growing its combined workforce to nearly 1,000 at the two sites.

Space Force Cancels Resilient GPS Smallsat Layer Citing Budget Priorities

The U.S. Space Force has terminated Resilient GPS (R-GPS), an experimental program to deploy a proliferated layer of small satellites augmenting the core GPS constellation. Space Systems Command confirmed “the initial phase of R-GPS has been completed and will be used to inform future decisions about GPS architecture.”

R-GPS aimed to deploy up to 20 small satellites transmitting core GPS signals to enhance resistance against jamming—with an estimated cost of approximately $1 billion over five years. Funding for the next development phase was not included in the fiscal year 2026 budget, with officials citing “higher priorities within the Department of the Air Force.”

Congressional skepticism contributed to the termination. House appropriators questioned whether additional satellites represented the optimal approach to addressing jamming threats and objected that initial designs lacked the military’s jam-resistant M-code signal. Phase 0 contracts with Astranis, Axient, L3Harris, and Sierra Space have been completed, but no on-orbit demonstrations will proceed. Core GPS modernization—including GPS III/IIIF satellites and the Next Generation Operational Control System—remains unaffected.

Key Takeaways

AI Spending Hits Escape Velocity: The combined $650 billion capex commitment from four tech giants represents a level of concentrated corporate investment unprecedented in modern history—the AI infrastructure buildout is now larger than entire industries.
Nvidia Emerges as Clear Winner: While software and services stocks have lost nearly $1 trillion on AI disruption fears, Nvidia gained $300 billion in a single day—the market is definitively pricing chip infrastructure as the winning AI bet.
Resilient PNT Splits Two Ways: Thales is quadrupling production of jam-resistant navigation systems while the U.S. Space Force cancels its experimental GPS resilience layer—the military is betting on ground-based solutions and M-code rather than constellation proliferation.