Hyperscaler Backlog 2026: $2.6T of Cloud Contracts by Company

The hyperscaler backlog, the signed cloud contracts Oracle, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and CoreWeave haven't delivered yet, is about $2.6 trillion, double the $1.24 trillion a year earlier. Little of it lands soon: Oracle expects 13% of its $664 billion within 12 months.

The accounting name is remaining performance obligations (RPO): contracts customers have signed for services not yet delivered, so not yet counted as revenue. Each row compares the latest filing with the same filing a year earlier. Sources: Microsoft 10-Q, Oracle 10-Q, Amazon 10-Q, Alphabet 10-Q, CoreWeave 10-Q. Oracle's fiscal quarter ends in August. CoreWeave usually reports its September quarter in mid November.

How big is the hyperscaler backlog by company?

Alphabet's backlog grew fastest, more than tripling in a year. Relative to their size, CoreWeave's and Oracle's are the largest, at roughly 14 and 9 years of revenue.

Every backlog jumped after mid 2025

0250500$750BSep '24Mar '25Sep '25Mar '26Sep '26Oracle adds $318B in one quarter$683BMicrosoft$664BOracle$578BAmazon$568BAlphabetSep '24$266B$99B$164B$87BDec '24$304B$97B$177B$93BMar '25$321B$130B$189B$92BJun '25$375B$138B$195B$108BSep '25$398B$455B$200B$158BDec '25$631B$523B$244B$243BMar '26$633B$553B$364B$468BJun '26$684B$638B$496B$520BSep '26$683B$664B$578B$568B

Set against revenue, the backlog shows how many years of current sales are already signed.

CoreWeave has almost 14 years of revenue signed

CoreWeave13.7×

Oracle9.3×

Google Cloud6.0×

AWS3.6×

Microsoft (whole company)2.0×

Backlog divided by revenue over the last four reported quarters. Google Cloud and AWS use segment revenue; Microsoft's backlog covers the whole company, so it is set against total revenue.

CoreWeave and Oracle have sold the most capacity relative to what they earn today. Microsoft's ratio is low because its revenue base is so large, not because its backlog is small.

How much of the backlog becomes revenue in the next year?

Each company discloses a different timing window. Oracle and CoreWeave are the slowest: most of their backlog lands after year two. Microsoft and Alphabet convert faster.

Oracle RPO breakdown: only 13% arrives within a year

Oracle, next 12 months13%

Oracle, months 13 to 3637%

Oracle, months 37 to 6034%

Oracle, after 5 years16%

Share of the $664 billion Oracle expects to recognize as revenue in each period.

The contracts are also getting longer. A year ago Microsoft expected 40% of its backlog within 12 months; it now expects 30%. Amazon's average remaining contract life went from 3.8 years to 6.1 years. Longer contracts lock customers in, but they also mean years of building and paying for capacity before the revenue is booked.

Amazon's cloud contracts got 60% longer in a year

02.55.07.5 yrsSep '24Mar '25Sep '25Mar '26Sep '26OpenAI expands by $100B over 8 years6.1 yrsWeighted average remaining contract lifeSep '243.9 yrsDec '244.1 yrsMar '254.1 yrsJun '254.0 yrsSep '253.8 yrsDec '254.1 yrsMar '265.5 yrsJun '266.4 yrsSep '266.1 yrs

Why did the backlog jump?

A few very large AI contracts, signed by a handful of AI labs.

Alphabet added the most in a year

Alphabet+$410B

Amazon+$378B

Microsoft+$285B

Oracle+$209B

CoreWeave+$74B

Increase in remaining performance obligations over the latest four reported quarters.

The flip side is concentration. When a handful of AI labs sign most of the new contracts, each backlog depends on those customers raising the money to pay.

Oracle's RPO: how much, and when does it arrive?

Oracle's remaining performance obligations were $664 billion at August 31, 2026, up from $99 billion two years earlier. The jump came in a single quarter: $318 billion was added in the three months to August 2025. Oracle's 10-Q attributes the year's increase, from $99 billion to $455 billion, to "certain significant cloud contracts that were entered into during the period." It doesn't name the customers. The quarter matches OpenAI's July 2025 announcement that it would develop 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity with Oracle as part of its Stargate project, but Oracle has not said how much of its backlog that deal accounts for.

The timing is the catch. Before those deals, in May 2025, Oracle expected 33% of its backlog to become revenue within 12 months. Afterward that fell to 10%, and it has only edged up to 13% since.

Oracle's 12-month share collapsed after the big contracts

010203040%May '25Aug '25Nov '25Feb '26May '26Aug '26$318B added in one quarter13%Share of RPO expected within 12 monthsMay '2533%Aug '2510%Nov '2510%Feb '2612%May '2612%Aug '2613%

Even so, the near-term slice is large for Oracle's size. About $86 billion is due in the next 12 months, more than the $71.8 billion of total revenue Oracle booked in the last 12. Its cloud infrastructure revenue was $7.4 billion in the latest quarter, up 121% from a year earlier (10-Q). If it delivers on time, growth for the coming year is largely spoken for. The risk sits in years two to five, where 71% of the backlog lands, and in the $90 billion to $95 billion of fiscal 2027 capex Oracle has guided to on its earnings calls (Oracle capex).

Microsoft's commercial RPO: how much is OpenAI?

About 45%, as of December 2025. Microsoft's backlog jumped from $398 billion to $631 billion in the quarter to December 2025, after it signed a new agreement with OpenAI in October 2025 (10-Q). On that quarter's earnings call, CFO Amy Hood said "approximately 45% of our commercial RPO balance is from OpenAI," out of $625 billion at the time.

At September 30, 2026, Microsoft reported $683 billion of RPO for the whole company, of which $677 billion is commercial (10-Q). Its contracts are the shortest disclosed: a weighted average duration of about 2.3 years, against a 6.1-year remaining life at Amazon, with about 30% due in the next 12 months. Microsoft Cloud revenue was $63.9 billion in the quarter, up 30%, and Azure grew 48%.

Growth has slowed since the OpenAI jump: up 59% in one quarter, then 8% across the three quarters after, with the latest quarter flat at $683 billion.

AWS backlog: how big are Amazon's cloud contracts?

About $578 billion at September 30, 2026, nearly triple the $200 billion a year earlier (10-Q). It counts only contracts longer than one year, and Amazon says it is mostly AWS.

Two deals explain most of the rise, and Amazon names both. In Q1 2026, OpenAI expanded its existing $38.0 billion commitment by $100.0 billion over 8 years. In Q2 2026, Anthropic expanded its commitment by more than $100.0 billion over 10 years. Those long terms are why the average remaining contract life rose from 4.1 years to 6.4 in June, before easing to 6.1.

AWS sales were $46.0 billion in the quarter, up 39%. At $161.4 billion of AWS revenue over the last four quarters, the backlog covers about 3.6 years. Amazon gives no split of how much arrives within 12 months.

Google Cloud backlog: why did Alphabet's triple?

Alphabet reported $567.7 billion of revenue backlog at September 30, 2026, of which $560.8 billion relates to Google Cloud (10-Q). That is up from $157.7 billion a year earlier, the biggest one-year gain of the five, and it nearly doubled in a single quarter, from $242.8 billion in December 2025 to $467.6 billion in March 2026. In that same quarter Alphabet started counting contracts of one year or less, but those added only about $7.3 billion (10-Q), so the jump is real.

Alphabet names only one: $16.8 billion of the backlog comes from a multi-year agreement with Crux AI, a joint venture Alphabet holds a stake in. It does say Google Cloud revenue was $30.7 billion in the quarter, $15.6 billion more than a year earlier, "primarily driven by growth in Google Cloud Platform, largely from infrastructure and platform services, and TPU system sales." TPUs are Google's own AI chips. Alphabet expects to recognize just over 55% of the backlog within 24 months, a faster schedule than Oracle's or CoreWeave's.

CoreWeave backlog: who are the customers?

CoreWeave reported $103.7 billion of RPO at June 30, 2026, up from $30.1 billion a year earlier (10-Q). Its filings name the largest orders: Meta committed up to about $21.0 billion in March 2026; OpenAI up to about $11.9 billion in March 2025 (10-K) and up to about $6.5 billion more in September 2025; and Jane Street about $6.0 billion in April 2026. Microsoft is another significant customer.

CoreWeave expects 41% of the backlog within 24 months, 39% in months 25 to 48, and the rest by month 78. Revenue was $2.6 billion in the quarter, more than double a year earlier. Even against its 2026 revenue guidance of $12.4 billion to $13.2 billion, the backlog is about 8 years of sales. That gap is what CoreWeave borrows against: it guides to $35 billion to $39 billion of capex in 2026 (CoreWeave capex and debt).

Is RPO the same as backlog?

Close, but the five companies don't measure the same thing, so the combined total is a rough guide, not a precise sum.

• Microsoft reports RPO for the whole company, including Office and other commercial contracts, not only Azure.
• Amazon counts only contracts with original terms longer than one year, calls the figure approximate, and says it is "primarily related to AWS."
• Alphabet calls its figure "revenue backlog"; it is the same RPO measure, excluding cancellable contracts. Since March 2026 it also includes contracts of one year or less.
• Oracle and CoreWeave report RPO under the standard definition. CoreWeave nets out estimated credits and capacity it can resell, and its earnings releases quote a "revenue backlog" figure that ran above RPO at the end of 2025 ($66.8 billion against $60.7 billion) but has since nearly matched it. This tracker uses RPO for all five.

For Microsoft, Oracle, Alphabet and CoreWeave, RPO includes revenue already billed but not yet earned (deferred revenue) plus amounts not yet billed. Amazon doesn't say whether its figure includes unearned revenue. It excludes usage that customers haven't committed to, so pay-as-you-go cloud spending never shows up in it.

How does the backlog compare with capex?

For the three biggest builders, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, signed future revenue is about 3.1 times their planned 2026 capex. Together they hold about $1,829 billion of backlog against capex plans with midpoints of about $590 billion ($170 billion, $200 billion and $220 billion, from our 2026 capex tracker).

Signed revenue runs about 3 times this year's building

Backlog2026 capex plan (midpoint)

250500$750B0

$683B$170B

MicrosoftBacklog$683B2026 capex plan (midpoint)$170B

$568B$200B

AlphabetBacklog$568B2026 capex plan (midpoint)$200B

$578B$220B

AmazonBacklog$578B2026 capex plan (midpoint)$220B

MicrosoftAlphabetAmazon

So the bull case holds: the spending is backed by signed contracts. The bear case is in the timing table above. Capex is spent now, much of the revenue arrives years later, and the buyers are concentrated.

Quarterly backlog history

Oracle's figures are for its fiscal quarters ending August, November, February and May, shown in the row for the following month. Amazon's are approximate and cover only contracts longer than one year. CoreWeave's December 2024 figure is from its 10-K.

What to watch next

• CoreWeave's September quarter, usually reported in mid November: its Q2 release said more than $25 billion of new commitments came in early in the quarter, so backlog should step up from about $104 billion.
• Oracle's November quarter, due in December: the 12-month share, which has crept up from 10% to 13% as older contracts start to deliver.
• Microsoft's December quarter: whether growth restarts after a flat September quarter.

FAQ

Which company has the biggest backlog? Microsoft, at $683 billion, just ahead of Oracle's $664 billion. Relative to revenue, CoreWeave's is the largest.

Is the backlog guaranteed revenue? No. The filings tie timing to delivery and usage: Alphabet says it depends on "our ability to deliver in accordance with relevant contract terms and when our customers utilize services," and Amazon says recognition "will be driven by customer usage and our performance in accordance with contractual obligations." A customer that can't pay, or capacity that arrives late, delays or shrinks it.

How much of the backlog is OpenAI? No company gives a full total. Microsoft said about 45% of its commercial backlog was OpenAI in December 2025, Amazon discloses OpenAI commitments of $138 billion, and CoreWeave up to about $18.4 billion. Oracle doesn't name customers.

Can customers cancel these contracts? Sometimes, in part. CoreWeave's September 2025 10-Q says OpenAI can terminate "all or a portion of the committed amount" if CoreWeave repeatedly fails to meet availability requirements. Alphabet excludes cancellable contracts from its figure. The others don't spell out cancellation terms.

Our read

The backlog is real money in signed contracts, and it more than doubled in a year. But it is long-dated and concentrated. The companies that sold the most capacity relative to their size, Oracle and CoreWeave, are the ones borrowing hardest to deliver it (debt tracker). The number to watch each quarter is not the headline total but the share due in the next 12 months: that is the part that pays for this year's building.

Go deeper

This tracker shows what has been signed. Issue 02: The AI Capex Shock asks what happens if it doesn't get used. Its bear case, "reservations do not become workloads," is the scenario where this backlog shrinks, and its company scorecard lists the main risk to watch for each company in the chain, from cloud platforms to chips to power.