This law firm memo provides a fairly detailed overview of the risks inherent in the "AI" finance bubble and it doesn't look good

https://www.quinnemanuel.com/the-firm/publications/client-alert-emerging-litigation-risks-in-financing-ai-data-centers-boom/

> The deeply interconnected AI ecosystem means that distress at any single node—a construction delay, a tenant default, unhedged energy cost differentials, a collapse in GPU resale values—can propagate across multiple counterparties and financing layers.

This is fine, right?

Client Alert: Emerging Litigation Risks in Financing AI Data Centers Boom

Quinnemanuel

https://www.quinnemanuel.com/the-firm/publications/client-alert-emerging-litigation-risks-in-financing-ai-data-centers-boom/

> Data center debt has increasingly been repackaged and sold to a wider pool of investors through asset-backed securities (“ABS”) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”).

This has never backfired, right?

Client Alert: Emerging Litigation Risks in Financing AI Data Centers Boom

Quinnemanuel

https://www.quinnemanuel.com/the-firm/publications/client-alert-emerging-litigation-risks-in-financing-ai-data-centers-boom/

> In a role reversal, this year Moody’s has warned that AI data center investments may be riskier than they appear, as current U.S. accounting rules allow companies to conceal tens of billions in potential liabilities. Moody’s noted that reported liabilities may understate likely cash outflows

No worries there, right?

Client Alert: Emerging Litigation Risks in Financing AI Data Centers Boom

Quinnemanuel

> The interaction between the two collateral layers creates a cascading risk. If GPU collateral loses value, the neocloud tenant cannot service its debt, which impairs the tenant’s ability to make lease payments to the data center SPV, which in turn undermines the cash flows backing the data center ABS that investors are relying on.

and

> ...if it materializes at scale, would propagate losses across every layer of the financing stack.

Oh joy.

@baldur I'm going to call the wry, ironic nose-laugh I just made while reading this, "The Big Snort." Apropos of nothing, of course...
@baldur Perfectly normal! The next update will fix that issue.

@baldur

2008, anyone?

@bytebro At the very least. We have other potential crises on the boil as well 😅

@baldur

Thank the Goddess that a fair chunk of my retirement savings is in Cash ISAs and similar rather than stocks & shares. I think the crash is going to be epic.

@baldur Then there's the other data center debt comprising large sums that Big Tech companies have promised to pay, structured in such a way that it doesn't appear on their balance sheets. They can probably afford it even in a worst-case scenario (except maybe Oracle), but it'd mean the end of their cash fountains that have sustained a high proportion of stock-market growth.
@timbray Yeah, the memo covers that as well in a way that's more readable to a lay person like me than I expected.
@baldur hey 2008 called and wants its scam idea back.
@tomtrottel Definitely looks that way.
@baldur The rich have so much money, that they don't need, that they can't find enough things to invest that money into.
The Subprime AI Crisis Is Here

Hi! If you like this piece and want to support my independent reporting and analysis, why not subscribe to my premium newsletter? It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newsletter that’s usually anywhere from 5,000 to 18,000 words,

Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At