The AI Gold Rush That Could Break The Bank
A historic, debt-fueled data center build-out is reshaping tech—and pushing private credit into systemically important territory. Critics warn the math may not add up.
The AI gold rush has triggered one of the largest capital-spending cycles in modern tech history. Global AI spending is expected to hit $375 billion in 2025 and $500 billion in 2026, according to UBS. Much of that is tied to the race to build GPU (graphics processing unit)-rich data centers capable of training and running modern foundation models.
But the sheer scale of this investment is stretching balance sheets. Even the biggest names are borrowing aggressively and increasingly leaning on an unexpected cohort: private credit funds. These funds are now structuring multi-billion-dollar off-balance-sheet vehicles to finance data-center equipment and long-dated AI infrastructure in ways traditional lenders won’t.
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