Artificial intelligence companies have been borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars, selling fresh stock, and cooking up novel and potentially risky methods of financing.
October 27, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDTToday at 5:00 a.m. EDT
(Washington Post illustration; iStock)
The biggest bet in the history of the United States keeps getting bigger, and we’re all hanging on for the ride.
Technology companies recently launched a record scramble for cash to pay for data centers, computer chips, and technology and equipment to power artificial intelligence. This boom is so expensive that even Silicon Valley giants are bleeding cash, and companies are now racing one another to collect or borrow other people’s money for the estimated $10 trillion of AI-related spending in coming years.
