Microsoft, Oracle and 3 peers have $2.7 trillion in AI commitments, a study found. None is on balance sheets yet.
Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Oracle have legally binding leases worth $1.1 trillion, up from $68 billion five years ago, Handelsblatt reported on 22 October.
The figures come from an analysis of the companies' filings with the SEC, the US markets regulator, and Bloomberg data by the Flossbach von Storch Research Institute in Cologne.
Other commitments, for software, infrastructure and energy, grew from $129 billion to $1.6 trillion. Together that makes $2.7 trillion in firm commitments for AI investment that the study says do not yet appear on the balance sheets, the statements of what the companies own and owe.
The five companies' finances also turned. They had $209 billion of net cash at the end of June 2021. Today they carry $106 billion of adjusted net debt between them, and Oracle carries $88 billion of it.
Our reading: by the study's own two figures, Oracle holds about 83% of the group's adjusted net debt. The other four account for the remaining $18 billion of that figure.
Sources
Our file on Microsoft
- 24 Oct
Microsoft dropped Publisher this month, and Word cannot open its files directly. Updates start removing it from some Microsoft 365 PCs mid-November.
- 23 Oct
Microsoft says hackers aimed AI agents at over 2,250 company Microsoft 365 accounts. Most attempts failed, but some won privileged access.
- 23 Oct
OpenAI said its models will reach 3 clouds in the coming weeks. Procurement teams check whether terms differ.
- 22 Oct
Microsoft added new controls for European cloud customers. A Gartner analyst said he "would not call this complete control."
- 20 Oct
ValueLicensing sued Microsoft for £270m. A court refused Microsoft's bid to appeal.
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