The Newsroom: Microsoft & Alphabet Earnings, Oracle Expands AI Chip Options, Adds Cerebras & SambaNova
The Newsroom · October 28, 2026
The AI industry is shifting from building capacity to proving it pays and funding it. Microsoft and Alphabet reported after the US market close on October 28, and neither had reported when this edition was prepared. Meta is raising equity to fund its AI buildout, with NVIDIA committing $3 billion to the offering and widening its Muse partnership, announced October 27. Oracle said the same day it will add Google, Cerebras and SambaNova chips alongside a larger NVIDIA commitment, and a startup's AI agents reportedly reached Anthropic's internal systems through third-party business software.
Editorial Note: stories carry their original announcement dates. Reported results, company guidance and analyst forecasts are labeled separately, and no October 28 result is claimed.
1. Microsoft Earnings: Can Azure Growth Justify the AI Investment Boom?
CLOUD · EARNINGSDates: Results due October 28, 2026 after the US market close | Call 2:30 p.m. PT | Not yet reported
Microsoft reports fiscal 2027 first-quarter results on October 28, according to its October 7 announcement. The test is whether Azure growth and AI revenue are rising as fast as spending. For the previous quarter, reported in late July, Microsoft said Azure grew 43%, and capital expenditure was $41 billion, including finance leases, up 69%. For the current quarter, CFO Amy Hood guided to revenue of $89.85 billion to $90.95 billion and Azure growth of about 45% at constant currency.
Prior-quarter results (reported, late July): Revenue $90.01 billion, up 18%; Azure up 43%; capex $41 billion. Figures as relayed by Quartz from CNBC and the company.
Company guidance: Revenue $89.85 billion to $90.95 billion; Azure about 45% at constant currency.
Analyst expectations (not results): Zacks consensus of about $90.58 billion revenue and $4.71 earnings per share; Zacks also expects capex above $50 billion, which it ties to a lease-accounting change from extending data-center useful lives.
Not established: Any October 28 result; the final capex figure; Copilot revenue, which Microsoft may or may not disclose. Quartz cites the Wall Street Journal for a calendar-2026 capex forecast near $175 billion; that was not checked against Microsoft's filing.
The CODEW analysis: With Azure guided to accelerate, the question is the cost of the growth. Compare capex and free cash flow with the revenue it supports, and note how much of any capex rise comes from accounting changes rather than new capacity.
Sources: Microsoft News Source, October 7; Quartz, July 30; Yahoo Finance (Zacks) preview.
2. Alphabet Earnings: Google Cloud, Gemini and Custom AI Chips
CLOUD · AI CHIPS · EARNINGSDates: Results due October 28, 2026 | Call 1:30 p.m. PT (4:30 p.m. ET) | Not yet reported
Alphabet says it will post its third-quarter release on its investor site on October 28 ahead of the call. Alphabet's second-quarter report, as summarized by Dukascopy, showed revenue of $119.8 billion, up 24%, Google Cloud revenue of $24.8 billion, up 82%, and capex of $44.9 billion. Alphabet raised its 2026 capex range to $195 billion to $205 billion and said spending will rise significantly again in 2027, per the same report. The same summary says Alphabet raised $49.6 billion from equity and preferred issuances and $20.3 billion from senior notes in June.
Prior-quarter results (reported, July): Revenue $119.8 billion; Cloud $24.8 billion, up 82%; capex $44.9 billion; free cash flow negative $5.9 billion. A $98 billion paper gain on equity investments inflated net income, so it is not a guide to core performance. Secondary summary; not checked against Alphabet's release.
Company guidance: 2026 capex $195 billion to $205 billion.
Analyst expectations (not results): Revenue about $128.2 billion and EPS about $3.02 (42 estimates via Reuters, as cited by IG); Google Cloud about $29.6 billion (LSEG, range $25.0 billion to $36.7 billion).
Not established: Any October 28 result; Gemini usage figures; TPU revenue or external TPU demand, which Alphabet does not break out in the sources reviewed.
The CODEW analysis: Alphabet pairs its own models, its own TPU chips and a cloud distribution channel, and Oracle's plan to offer TPUs (story 4) is a sign the chips now have outside customers. The question for the quarter is whether Cloud growth and margins carry a capex bill of this size without more outside financing.
Sources: Alphabet investor relations, date announcement; Dukascopy market news, July 23; IG, October 27.
3. NVIDIA Commits $3 Billion to Meta's Stock Offering as Muse Partnership Deepens
AI · INVESTMENT · CHIPSDates: Announced October 27, 2026 | Delivery timeline and chip volumes not disclosed
NVIDIA said on October 27 it will commit $3 billion to Meta's equity offering as part of an expanded partnership, according to Reuters text carried by Investing.com. The companies will work on inference and training performance for Meta's Muse models, and Meta plans to expand its use of NVIDIA infrastructure, including Vera Rubin systems and Vera CPUs for AI agents, plus NVIDIA networking. Jensen Huang said they are optimizing the infrastructure "end to end for capable, efficient and secure AI agents."
The same report says Meta upsized its common stock offering to $25 billion from $22.5 billion, priced at $625 a share, and that with depositary shares the raise is worth up to $37.5 billion. It says this is part of a larger financing plan, with a further $60 billion non-voting share offering planned for 2027; other outlets put the overall plan at $97.5 billion. Wells Fargo analysts said the raise likely fills their expected $60 billion to $80 billion fiscal 2027 financing gap.
Confirmed (company announcement, as reported): NVIDIA's $3 billion commitment to the offering; Muse collaboration; Meta's expanded NVIDIA deployment, including Vera Rubin and Vera CPUs.
Reported: Offering size, price, and the larger $97.5 billion plan, all from one syndicated report plus headlines; analyst commentary from Mizuho and Wells Fargo.
Not established: NVIDIA's or Meta's own release and the SEC filing, which were not opened; the number of chips, delivery dates or contract value; whether NVIDIA buys at the offering price; a reported AMD investment pledge that appears only in a headline.
The CODEW analysis: A chip supplier putting equity into a customer that is raising money to buy its chips ties the two companies' fortunes together and raises the usual question about circular financing. It also shows how large the funding need has become: Meta's plan is sized in tens of billions. For buyers, it signals that even the biggest spenders are turning to equity markets to pay for AI capacity.
Sources: Reuters via Investing.com on Yahoo Finance, October 27; headline-level reports from The Globe and Mail and Axios. Reuters and Axios pages were not opened.
4. Oracle Widens Its AI Chip Menu: More NVIDIA, Plus Google, Cerebras and SambaNova
CLOUD · SEMICONDUCTORSDates: Reported October 27, 2026 | Investor day October 28, 10:55 a.m. CT | Mostly plans, not live services
Oracle and NVIDIA said Oracle will reach "multi-gigawatt scale" using NVIDIA's Vera Rubin servers, Reuters reported on October 27; the deal value was not disclosed. Oracle will also use its own Acceleron networking chips instead of some NVIDIA networking, begin offering Google's TPUs for the first time, and plan to offer chips from Cerebras and SambaNova, both inference specialists. Mahesh Thiagarajan, president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, said: "Different AI workloads have different compute needs." Oracle kept its fiscal 2027 capital-spending target of about $90 billion to $95 billion and did not say how it will finance the chips.
Confirmed (company statements, via Reuters): Expanded NVIDIA commitment to multi-gigawatt scale; Acceleron networking in some systems; TPU, Cerebras and SambaNova offerings planned.
Not established: Deal value; start dates for TPU, Cerebras and SambaNova capacity (the report describes them as plans); financing; Oracle's own release, which was not opened. Reuters says Oracle held its capex target on last month's earnings call; the investor-day agenda lists no topics.
The CODEW analysis: NVIDIA dominates training, while inference is more contested, as Reuters notes. Offering several chip families lets Oracle match cost to workload and avoid depending on one supplier, and it gives customers a choice. The cost is operational: each added stack means more software support and more capital to finance.
Sources: Reuters via Yahoo Finance, October 27; Oracle investor relations, investor-day announcement.
5. AI Agents Reach Anthropic Systems Through Third-Party Software, Researchers Say
CYBERSECURITY · ENTERPRISE AIDates: Reported October 26, 2026 | Account based on a draft report; details disputed
The Washington Post reported, citing Gizmodo, that security startup Cathedral used AI agents to find paths into Anthropic's internal systems by exploiting vulnerabilities in third-party business software in under 12 hours. The activity was part of Anthropic's vulnerability reward program. Anthropic confirmed researchers reached a "limited set" of its sales, HR, and IT systems, exposing business contact information and some basic user account records, and said they did not access Claude users' conversations, source code, or model weights. Anthropic also accused Cathedral of breaking the program's rules by not disclosing the full extent of its activity.
Authorized research or malicious exploitation: The activity ran inside Anthropic's reward program, so it was sanctioned research, but Anthropic says it went beyond the program's rules. No malicious actor is reported.
Anthropic's stated position: Limited access to sales, HR, and IT systems; no conversations, source code, or model weights were accessed. The assignment also says Anthropic disabled the affected software and found no evidence of exploitation by others; those two points were not found in the sources opened and are unconfirmed.
Cathedral's claims: Broader access, including meeting transcripts, salaries, job offers, and Slack messages, from a draft report that has not been published.
Not established: The software vendor (not named); the scope of access; whether the 12-hour timing is right, since Anthropic says earlier direct attempts failed over several days. The Washington Post article itself was not opened.
The CODEW analysis: The route in was business software connected to internal systems, not the AI model. That puts the weight on access controls, identity management, third-party app governance and fast patching, and shows that AI agents can chain those weaknesses together faster than a manual review.
Sources: Gizmodo, October 26 (relaying The Washington Post).
Business and Market Implications
- Investors: Microsoft's and Alphabet's results will show growth against expected quarterly capex above $50 billion at Microsoft (Zacks) and Alphabet's $195 billion to $205 billion 2026 guidance. Free cash flow and funding mix matter as much as cloud growth.
- Cloud and chip buyers: Oracle's plan and Alphabet's TPUs suggest more choice for inference, while NVIDIA is also deepening ties with large customers. Expect negotiating leverage, not a quick switch.
- Enterprise security teams: Agentic tools make third-party integrations and stale access the likelier entry point; review connected apps before reviewing the model.
THE CODEW ANGLE. The AI buildout is moving from "who can build capacity" to "who can pay for it and prove it earns a return." Alphabet's June equity and note issuance, Meta's equity raise with NVIDIA's $3 billion, and Oracle's undisclosed financing all point the same way: the cost of capacity now depends on capital markets, and customers, suppliers and investors are tied closer together.
That raises the bar for monetization. Tonight's Azure and Google Cloud numbers will show whether demand is keeping up, and the Cathedral episode shows that enterprise deployment adds its own risk.
What to Watch Next
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES- Alphabet (1:30 p.m. PT) and Microsoft (2:30 p.m. PT), October 28: Microsoft Azure against the roughly 45% guide, Google Cloud growth, capex, and any 2027 spending signal.
- Oracle investor day, October 28, 10:55 a.m. CT: whether financing, customer commitments, and start dates for the new chips are disclosed.
- NVIDIA and Meta: primary documents with offering terms, and any delivery timeline for Vera Rubin and Vera CPUs.
- Anthropic and Cathedral: publication of Cathedral's report, the vendor's name, and any patch notice.
- PHP follow-up (held): not run as a story because no verified October 27–28 update was found. Fixes for the two critical flaws (CVE-2026-109618, CVE-2026-109619) were released October 21. watchTowr says CISA added CVE-2026-109618 to its exploited-vulnerabilities list on October 26, which was not confirmed on CISA's site, while Sophos reported no confirmed compromise as of October 23. PHP 7.4, 8.0, and 8.1 have no official fixed release.
Source Attribution
- Microsoft News Source: Microsoft announces quarterly earnings release date (October 7)
- Quartz: Microsoft earnings, Azure and cloud (July 30)
- Yahoo Finance (Zacks): Microsoft stock before Q1 earnings
- Alphabet investor relations: Announces date of third quarter 2026 results call
- Dukascopy: Alphabet Q2 2026 results (July 23)
- IG: Alphabet Q3 earnings preview (October 27)
- Reuters via Investing.com on Yahoo Finance: Nvidia to commit $3 bln to Meta share offering
- Reuters via Yahoo Finance: Oracle expands chip supply deal with Nvidia, adds Google and Cerebras offerings (October 27)
- Oracle investor relations: Investor day meeting to be held October 28, 2026
- Gizmodo: Former DOGE staffers' new startup claims it hacked Anthropic (October 26)
- watchTowr: PHP CVE-2026-109618 FAQ (updated October 26)
- Sophos: Proof-of-concept exploit released for PHP vulnerabilities (updated October 23)
THE CODEW · THE NEWSROOM
Editorial Note
The Newsroom reports verified developments and material industry shifts for technology companies, enterprise buyers, investors and the AI ecosystem. This edition was prepared before Microsoft's and Alphabet's October 28 results; it reports prior-quarter results, company guidance and analyst forecasts as labeled and states no October 28 result.
Coverage is based on public disclosures and reporting and should be read in the context of the cited sources and reporting period. Reuters, Axios, Washington Post, and CISA pages were not accessible during preparation, so those items rely on syndicated or secondary text. Announced plans and offerings are not completed deployments. Educational content only; not investment advice.
Reviewed by Erwin Castro
on
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
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