AI Investment Nears $1 Trillion as Slowdown Risks Grow

Artificial intelligence investment is approaching $1 trillion annually, but economists and investors warn that a slowdown in spending could expose heavily indebted infrastructure providers and pressure companies whose growth depends on continued demand. The scale of the buildout is also raising questions about whether returns will justify the financing and equipment costs. Dambisa Moyo, an economist, argues that borrowing to fund AI infrastructure is competing with government financing needs and contributing to higher bond yields. She warns that weaker productivity gains or disappointing investment returns could prompt companies to reconsider spending, with consequences for economic growth. Those are risks she describes, not evidence that a recession or spending contraction has occurred. The financing strain is visible in some AI infrastructure debt, according to one account: in mid-October, yields on certain Nvidia-backed CoreWeave bonds exceeded 16%, while CoreWeave carried roughly $50 billion in debt. CoreWeave provides cloud computing infrastructure for AI workloads. The figures were reported without an identified underlying record, and do not establish that the company...