Salesforce Edges Out Oracle as Safer Enterprise AI Bet Amid Massive Spending Concerns

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) has edged out Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) in the race for the safest enterprise AI bet, despite both companies' massive moves into artificial intelligence. Over the past year, Salesforce's stock has dropped around 3%, while Oracle's shares have plummeted 55% compared to the S&P 500's gains of 16%. Oracle's aggressive spending on building expensive AI data centers, including its $165 billion Project Jupiter in New Mexico, has raised concerns about whether it will deliver returns proportional to its enormous financial commitments.

Oracle's capital expenditures soared 235% in the first quarter to $28.5 billion, but permitting delays and power supply issues have slowed construction progress on Project Jupiter, causing investors to become increasingly skeptical. The company recently paused rent payments on the project, which has further rattled investors and deepened concerns about Oracle's AI strategy.

Despite these setbacks, Oracle's cloud infrastructure sales more than doubled in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, showing that its strategy of renting AI compute power to clients is gaining traction. Salesforce, on the other hand, has overhauled its customer relationship management software by integrating AI agents and pivoting away from a traditional paid-seat pricing model toward a usage-based one.