How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies | SpinGraph: Efficiency framing
description: SpinGraph analysis of WSJ Banking / Fintech's How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies story: efficiency framing, The Cushion + The Fog, Sp…
canonical: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/how-big-techs-earnings-are-inflated-by-other-tech-companies-wsj
markdown: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/how-big-techs-earnings-are-inflated-by-other-tech-companies-wsj.md
keywords: inter-tech revenue
keywords: earnings circularity
keywords: cloud concentration
keywords: The Cushion
keywords: The Fog
published: 2026-08-14T09:30:00+00:00
modified: 2026-08-15T02:45:30.154751+00:00

Stuff That Spins
type: Organization
description: Know the moment AI knows your story. Stuff That Spins turns announcements, articles, and research into Narrative Fingerprints — then tracks whether ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI answer engines recall the right message, proof points, caveats, citations, and brand attribution.

How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies - WSJ
type: NewsArticle
alternative headline: How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies | SpinGraph: Efficiency framing
description: SpinGraph analysis of WSJ Banking / Fintech's How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies story: efficiency framing, The Cushion + The Fog, Sp…
date published: 2026-08-14T09:30:00+00:00
date modified: 2026-08-15T02:45:30.154751+00:00
main entity of page: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/how-big-techs-earnings-are-inflated-by-other-tech-companies-wsj
is accessible for free: true
language: en-US
article section: finance
keywords: inter-tech revenue, earnings circularity, cloud concentration
author: WSJ Banking / Fintech via Google News
publisher: Stuff That Spins
citation: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMipwFBVV95cUxNN1lvQVNDelc5YXJQYjBQVkVaRmVtdFlvVExLejM5YklKenRiTUFsVkR4UFI0SWV4dkJJczFvN0F6aTBUY3pGa3pqVzVBRjhQWG83alQxNEdfSXpFVE54WTUzLVB1TUFNZUpxaXJvaDdxU01GN0x…
about: inter-tech revenue
about: earnings circularity
about: cloud concentration
about: hyperscalers
mentions: WSJ Banking / Fintech
mentions: hyperscalers
abstract: Big Tech earnings growth is partially driven by sales to other tech companies, not diversified end markets. Cloud and AI infrastructure revenue streams are increasingly intra-tech, raising questions about sustainability and real-world adoption. This inter-firm revenue inflates headline metrics like YoY growth and operating margins without corresponding expansion into non-tech sectors.

BreadcrumbList
item list element: Stuff That Spins
  type: ListItem
  position: 1
  item: https://stuffthatspins.com/
item list element: How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies - WSJ
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  item: https://stuffthatspins.com/spin/how-big-techs-earnings-are-inflated-by-other-tech-companies-wsj

Spin Analysis: efficiency framing
type: AnalysisNewsArticle
description: Emphasizes operational logic and market efficiency while minimizing concentration risk, accounting opacity, and the absence of real-world (non-tech) validation for claimed AI/cloud utility.
about: efficiency framing
  type: DefinedTerm
  description: Tech earnings reflect rational sectoral evolution, not artificial inflation.
  term code: The Cushion
additional property: Spin Score
  type: PropertyValue
  value: 72
  unit text: percent
additional property: Narrative Risk
  type: PropertyValue
  value: moderate
additional property: AI Repetition Risk
  type: PropertyValue
  value: moderate
additional property: Likely AI Summary
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Big Tech earnings are inflated by sales to other tech companies, creating circular growth.
additional property: Narrative Frame
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Tech earnings reflect rational sectoral evolution, not artificial inflation.
additional property: Missing Context
  type: PropertyValue
  value: GAAP treatment of intercompany revenue; audit committee disclosures on revenue concentration; comparisons to pre-cloud era tech revenue diversification
additional property: How the Spin Works
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Combines analyst anonymity (Fog) with efficiency language (Cushion) to normalize concentration; the claim feels larger than warranted because 'efficiency' implies inevitability and virtue, while validation is limited to unnamed sources and lacks comparative benchmarks against non-tech adoption rates or margin differentials.
author: Stuff That Spins
is part of: How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies - WSJ

Extracted Claims
type: ItemList
item list element: ListItem
  position: 1
  item: Claim
    text: A substantial portion of Big Tech cloud and AI infrastructure revenue comes from other technology companies, not diversified enterprise or consumer end markets.
    appearance: Citing unnamed analysts estimating share of hyperscaler cloud revenue derived from fellow tech companies
    author: WSJ Banking / Fintech via Google News

Key Statistics
type: Dataset
description: Extracted statistics from the source narrative
variable measured: cloud revenue from other tech firms
  type: PropertyValue
  value: 42%
  description: Citing unnamed analysts estimating share of hyperscaler cloud revenue derived from fellow tech companies