How Much Have Big Tech Companies Committed to AI?

Peter Diamandis says Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle have disclosed more than $3 trillion in combined commitments on leases, buildings, power, and equipment. Google alone is over a trillion, nearly eight times last year's figure, and Meta is over $800 billion. Some of the leases run for 30 years.

The entire Apollo program cost about $280 billion in today's dollars, so the commitments from five companies equal about 10 Apollo programs. Lenders who once funded the build-outs with very few questions are now demanding tougher terms, wary of delays and slower AI profits. According to the Financial Times, OpenAI cut its new round to about $20 billion from $30 billion at a valuation of $1.25 trillion, down from $1.4 trillion. HSBC is talking to insurers about offloading the risk on its data center loans. Put options on CoreWeave, which pay off if the stock falls, hit a record high in October. One advisor told the Wall Street Journal that his clients, many of them former tech employees, have made so much money they are now quitting to hedge their stock.