this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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Technology

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Five tech giants are hiding $1.65tn in AI debt, using the trick that toppled Enron (thenextweb.com)
submitted 2 days ago by remington@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 17 hours ago

Huh, the thing i remember about Enron was how they colluded with power plant operators to cause blackouts and raise the price of electricity so they could cash out.

Interesting that the debt thing was less memorable.

The mechanics are simple. A company packages the debt for chips, servers, and power into a separate legal entity, often a joint venture, so the cost never flows through its own accounts.

Take Meta’s Hyperion data centre in Louisiana. Meta and Blue Owl Capital both put equity into a separate structure that took on $27 billion in debt. Meta is the sole tenant, yet argues it does not have to record that debt, because it is not the one who must find replacement tenants.

Oracle has $260 billion of future lease commitments that will eventually land on its books. Nvidia carries $119 billion in purchase obligations. Alphabet and Microsoft keep their vehicles off-book too.