Massive spending commitments for data-center leases and chips aren’t shown on companies’ balance sheets. Each quarter, big tech companies disclose their massive capital expenditures on artificial-intelligence infrastructure, from https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/topics/industry/data-centers to chips.
But those figures don’t come close to expressing the [full extent of future spending] to which Google parent https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/GOOGL, https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/META, https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/ORCL and many others have committed. That is because a huge swath of their https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-stumbles-as-tech-investors-demand-better-answers-on-ai-spending-fc731909 aren’t reflected on their balance sheets.
Nine top tech companies had some $3 trillion of off-balance-sheet commitments mostly related to AI, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of footnotes in their most recent securities filings. Those obligations are growing faster than traditional “capex,” which totaled about $600 billion over the past year they reported, and were about triple what the companies owe under their outstanding leases and long-term borrowings.
Why Big Tech’s AI Spending Is $3 Trillion Higher Than It Seems
Massive spending commitments for data-center leases and chips aren’t shown on companies’ balance sheets.
Each quarter, big tech companies disclose their massive capital expenditures on artificial-intelligence infrastructure, from https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/topics/industry/data-centers to chips.
But those figures don’t come close to expressing the [full extent of future spending] to which Google parent https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/GOOGL, https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/META, https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/ORCL and many others have committed. That is because a huge swath of their https://archive.ph/o/6tWhz/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/meta-stumbles-as-tech-investors-demand-better-answers-on-ai-spending-fc731909 aren’t reflected on their balance sheets.
Nine top tech companies had some $3 trillion of off-balance-sheet commitments mostly related to AI, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of footnotes in their most recent securities filings. Those obligations are growing faster than traditional “capex,” which totaled about $600 billion over the past year they reported, and were about triple what the companies owe under their outstanding leases and long-term borrowings.
https://archive.ph/6tWhz