Apple generated about $136 billion in free cash flow in its fiscal year ended September, up about 38% and above its previous record of about $111 billion in 2022. That is roughly twice the combined four-quarter total of Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet and Amazon, which spent more than $600 billion on capital expenditures, mostly on AI chips and data centers, while Apple spent about $9 billion. Amazon burned through about $42 billion over the past year, a record, Alphabet's free cash flow turned negative in the third quarter, and Meta's went negative for the first time since 2012. Apple returned about $102 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends in the year, and its net cash rose to about $57 billion from about $34 billion. CFO Kevan Parekh said Apple will significantly increase its AI investments, mainly through research and development.
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AAPLfree cash flowAI investmentdata centersshare buybacks
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Related tickers and likely impact
AAPL
▲ Likely positiveApple Inc.
Relevance: medium
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals |
| Market cap | $5.1T |
| Close on 11/02/2026 | 338.32 |
| Change that session | -1.83% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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