The AI Boom's Spending Problem
Big tech is pouring money into AI faster than it can earn it back, and the math looks shaky for almost everyone.
- A Financial Times analysis found Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Oracle are set to spend more on AI buildout through 2030 than they will earn from it.
- Even under fantasy best-case math — no salaries, no electricity, no costs at all — most of these companies still lose money on AI.
- Amazon is the only one expected to come out ahead, and only barely.
- The setup resembles a paper-profit loop: gains that exist only on balance sheets are being used to justify even more spending.
Outlook: If AI revenue keeps lagging the massive spending, expect pressure on tech stocks and questions about whether the boom is a bubble.