Five US tech giants' hidden debts soar to $1.65T on opaque AI funding

mNovak

Archive link: https://archive.ph/20260720174223/https://asia.nikkei.com/bu...

darth_avocado

Well technically they don’t own the debt, the SPVs that own the data centers do. The giants just have long term commitments, but if shit hits the fan, it’s not the tech giants but the banks that lent the money to the SPVs that are at risk. This usually means all of us are on the hook.

mNovak

On the one hand, these debts may be off the balance sheet, but institutional investors certainly know about them and can reason about the company's valuation. Retail investors may be caught out slightly more. But on the other hand, these companies are essentially paying for the service of taking the debt off books (by paying the leasing premium to the SPV partners). I guess I'm wondering what they really gain from doing so, if again sophisticated investors can see through the games?

dvh

To quote the Big short: "I have five houses and a condo."

King-Aaron

These debts mean nothing if the US government actually views AI technology as being on par with the Manhattan project. They'll just bail them out or nationalise them.

andrewstuart

Pretty sure Tim Apple can flip open his wallet and pick up the tab for everyone, if he’s feeling generous.