Oracle shares fell sharply on December 15, 2025. Investors reacted to the company's aggressive spending aimed at expanding its AI and cloud infrastructure. A recent earnings report highlighted a $12 billion quarterly capital expenditure, representing a 200% year-over-year increase.
The company also reported a surge in data center lease commitments, now totaling $248 billion. Oracle aims this massive investment at fulfilling a huge contract backlog, including a significant deal with OpenAI, by rapidly building out data center capacity.
However, this debt-funded strategy sparked anxiety regarding financial sustainability. Market concerns intensified following reports that an OpenAI data center project faced a delay until 2028. Broader fears of a slowdown in the AI sector compounded the pressure.