The windswept town of Ellendale, N.D., population 1,100, has two motels, a Dollar General, a Pentecostal Bible college\u2014and a half-built AI factory bigger than 10 Home Depots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its more than $15 billion price tag is equivalent to a quarter of the state\u2019s annual economic output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The artificial-intelligence boom has ushered in one of the costliest building sprees in world history. Over the past three years, leading tech firms have committed more toward AI data centers<\/a> like the one in Ellendale, plus chips and energy, than it cost to build the interstate highway system over four decades, when adjusted for inflation. AI proponents liken the effort to the Industrial Revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A big problem: No one is sure how they will get their investment back\u2014or when. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The building rush<\/a> is effectively a mega-speculative bet that the technology will rapidly improve, transform the economy and start producing steady profits. \u201cI hope we don\u2019t take 50 years,\u201d Microsoft<\/a> CEO Satya Nadella<\/a> said at a May conference with Meta<\/a> CEO Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>, referring to the initially slow adoption of electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYeah, well, we\u2019re all investing as if it\u2019s not going to take 50 years,\u201d replied Zuckerberg, who surmised at a recent White House dinner the company\u2019s U.S. spending through 2028 was \u201cprobably going to be something like\u201d $600 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> Media: "Spending on AI is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off? — There are growing, worrying signs that the optimism about AI won\u2019t pan out. An @MIT<\/a> report found 95% of organizations surveyed are getting no return on their AI product investments. A @UChicago<\/a> economics paper\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/qqE1XpcCs4<\/a><\/p>— Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) September 26, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>