New York, February 20, 2026, 16:57 EST — After-hours
- Shares slipped 0.3% to $397.23, lagging a broader Wall Street rise on Friday.
- A Microsoft director disclosed an open-market purchase as investors weigh AI-driven spending plans.
- The company has flagged new AI investment and energy commitments while facing scrutiny over government work.
Microsoft shares ended down 0.3% at $397.23 on Friday, underperforming a broader rally in U.S. stocks, as investors digested fresh signals around the company’s AI buildout and governance.
The move comes with Microsoft already down more than 17% so far in 2026, one of the weaker runs among the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps, leaving the stock more sensitive to any hint of how much the AI push will cost — and what it will earn back. “AI hyperscalers” plan to ramp up capital spending to build data centers and other infrastructure, said Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower. (Reuters)
That matters now because traders are pressing big tech for evidence that heavy spending on chips, power and data centers is translating into revenue growth, not just bigger depreciation bills and thinner free cash flow.
One near-term datapoint came from inside the boardroom. Director John W. Stanton reported buying 5,000 Microsoft shares at $397.35 apiece on Feb. 18, a purchase worth about $2.0 million, a U.S. securities filing showed. (SEC)
On the business side, Microsoft said this week it is on pace to invest $50 billion by 2030 to help expand artificial intelligence in the “Global South” — a catch-all for developing, emerging or lower-income countries — with the announcement made at an AI summit in New Delhi. The company last year outlined $17.5 billion of AI investments in India. (Reuters)
Microsoft also pledged to keep buying enough renewable energy to match all of its electricity needs as data centers draw more power. The company said it has contracted 40 gigawatts of new renewable supply, mainly through power purchase agreements — long-term contracts that help finance new projects — with 19 gigawatts already feeding the grid across 26 countries. “As we continue to grow we want to maintain that 100%,” Noelle Walsh, Microsoft’s cloud operations chief, told Reuters. (Reuters)
Separately, Microsoft pushed back on a report about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of its technology, saying its policies do not allow its tools to be used for the mass surveillance of civilians and that it does not believe ICE is engaged in such activity, a company spokesperson said. (Reuters)
Friday’s market tape offered mixed cover. U.S. stocks ended higher after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, with Alphabet, Amazon and Apple among the big winners. “Today is a removal of some uncertainty, and we’re on to the next phase,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments. (Reuters)
The spending race is getting louder, too. At the India AI Impact Summit, local groups and global tech names rolled out multibillion-dollar commitments tied to AI infrastructure, underscoring how quickly power, land and hardware have become chokepoints in the rollout. (Reuters)
But the upbeat talk comes with a risk. If demand for AI services cools, or if governments tighten rules around power use and data-center growth, the same investment plans that promise scale can land as margin pressure and slower cash generation.
Next week’s focus shifts quickly back to the AI bellwether trade: Nvidia’s quarterly results on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and a run of software earnings that investors have treated as a referendum on whether AI helps or hurts pricing power across enterprise tech. (Reuters)
