Financing the AI buildout projects that AI investment in data center buildings, power systems, networking infrastructure, and specialized chips and other equipment will total an enormous $10.3 trillion from 2025 to 2032, or an average of 3.63% of U.S. gross domestic product per year.
“The projected buildout would be larger relative to the economy than the major U.S. canal, railroad, electrification, highway, and telecommunications investment booms,” writes the author, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh of Columbia University.
The paper warns that the risks embodied in the AI investment race are migrating from transparent on-balance sheet financing by major corporations to opaque off-balance sheet financing through joint ventures, private credit, securitization, special-purpose vehicles, lease commitments, loan guarantees, and other structures.
These off-balance sheet arrangements then depend on AI companies’ cash flows and collateral values, which are subject to “uncertain AI demand, rapid technological change, timely access to power and hardware, and the continued credit quality of a small number of [data center] tenants,” Nieuwerburgh writes.
Financing the AI buildout will total $10.3 trillion from 2025-2032, or an average of 3.63% of US GDP each year: study. That "would be larger relative to the economy than the major US canal, railroad, electrification, highway, & telecom investment booms" https://t.co/RCT3oaG4VS
— Lisa Abramowicz (@lisaabramowicz1) September 24, 2026
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