Broadcom’s $73 Billion Order Book and Insider Sales Paint a Split Picture of AI’s Next Chapter

Broadcom rides hyperscaler AI spending to record growth, but insider stock sales of $106M signal caution beneath the surface.

The numbers coming out of Broadcom are staggering by any measure. A $73 billion backlog, a near-doubling of the stock over the past year, and a market capitalization brushing up against $2 trillion. Yet beneath the surface of this semiconductor giant’s success, a more nuanced story is unfolding—one where hyperscaler commitments stretch deep into the next decade while company insiders quietly cash out more than $100 million in shares.

Alphabet’s decision to push its capital expenditure forecast to between $180 billion and $190 billion this year, overwhelmingly directed at artificial intelligence infrastructure, has given Broadcom’s custom chip business an unmistakable tailwind. The two companies have locked in a long-term agreement running through 2031 to develop Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and networking components for Google’s next-generation AI racks. Citigroup estimates that Alphabet alone accounted for roughly $13 billion of Broadcom’s ASIC revenue in fiscal 2025.

That relationship extends beyond Google itself. Anthropic, the AI startup, has secured access to about 3.5 gigawatts of TPU-based computing power starting in 2027, adding another layer of revenue visibility that stretches well beyond typical semiconductor cycles. Meta has also deepened its commitment, locking in capacity for custom silicon chips through 2029, while its own capex plans have climbed to as much as $145 billion this year.

Taken together, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta are on track to spend nearly $700 billion on capital investments in 2025—a market where Broadcom has positioned itself as the dominant supplier of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The company now counts six named XPU customers—Google, Meta, ByteDance, Anthropic, Fujitsu, and OpenAI—plus two undisclosed accounts. Management’s target is to capture roughly 60 percent of the ASIC market by 2027.

The financial results already reflect that momentum. Broadcom’s AI semiconductor revenue surged 106 percent year-over-year to $8.4 billion in the most recent quarter, beating its own guidance. Networking revenue climbed 60 percent, representing 33 percent of AI sales, with management projecting that share will reach 40 percent in the current quarter. The company has set a goal of hitting $100 billion in AI revenue by 2027, up from $15 billion in fiscal 2025. Wall Street consensus estimates for total 2027 revenue jumped by roughly $24 billion between February and April alone—an unusually rapid revision for a megacap chipmaker.

The stock, trading near €357 and up more than 20 percent year-to-date, has attracted unanimous buy ratings from 48 analysts, with an average price target of around $471. Alphabet’s pledge to “significantly” increase spending again in 2027 should reinforce those expectations.

But the insider activity tells a different side of the story. Over the past three months, executives and board members have sold more than $106 million worth of shares. Among the sellers were co-founder Henry Samueli and chief legal officer Mark David Brazeal. While such sales are routine for diversification or tax planning, the scale has caught the attention of institutional investors who are repositioning their own portfolios. WT Asset Management opened a new position worth nearly $100 million in May, while Virtus Wealth Solutions added to its stake. MWA Asset Management, however, trimmed its holding by about 7 percent, though Broadcom remains its largest single position.

The next major test comes in June, when Broadcom reports its fiscal second-quarter results. Revenue for the period ending in early May is expected to come in at roughly $22 billion. The focus will be on profitability, particularly whether the adjusted operating margin of 68 percent can hold up as development costs for next-generation AI infrastructure continue to rise. With a $73 billion backlog providing a cushion and hyperscaler contracts extending through the end of the decade, the foundation is solid—but the market will be watching closely to see whether the margin story can keep pace with the revenue growth.