Big Tech’s AI spending spree may be far larger than the eye-popping numbers investors see every quarter. Companies including Alphabet, Meta and Oracle are already pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into data centers, chips and other AI infrastructure, but much of their future spending doesn’t even appear on their balance sheets.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, nine major tech companies have roughly $3 trillion in off-balance-sheet commitments, much of it tied to AI. Those obligations are growing faster than traditional capital expenditures and are about three times larger than what the companies owe through leases and long-term debt.