Financing the AI Buildout

Artificial intelligence is driving a large expansion in data center capacity, power infrastructure, and specialized computing equipment. We estimate that a 1 GW AI campus costs about $41 billion. A 188 GW U.S. buildout completed by 2032 would require total investment of nearly$9 trillion and amount to annual investment of 3.2 percent of GDP over 2025–2032. As hyperscaler capital expenditures outgrow internal cash flow, financing is shifting toward leases, joint ventures, project debt, private credit, securitization, and special-purpose vehicles. These structures expand funding capacity but also raise asset-level leverage, obscure contingent obligations, and expose investors to tenant concentration, technological obsolescence, execution delays, and uncertain residual values.