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662 Billion bucks not on the data center books yet

WABACWABAC
in Other Investing
Fortune reports on Moody's report:

I'm not an accountant, so I won't try summarize the article. Here's a little something to perk your curiosity.
The report, which analyzed the financial disclosures of Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Oracle, highlights how the unprecedented build-out of AI data centers is straining traditional accounting metrics. As of the end of 2025, these five tech giants had amassed a staggering $969 billion in total undiscounted future lease commitments, or data centers that have yet to be built. However, more than two-thirds of this total, that $662 billion figure, is for leases that have yet to commence, meaning that under generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, these companies are not required to recognize these massive obligations on their current balance sheets.

snip\

Moody’s warned that these opaque accounting practices mask the true economic risk facing the tech industry. While leasing reduces upfront capital investments, carrying such massive future commitments severely limits a company’s financial and operating flexibility, especially if AI industry conditions change rapidly. Because these liabilities are hidden, Moody’s concluded, in its own jargony way, that it is considering new ways to look at this issue.

“The accounting liability is unlikely to reflect certain plausible future scenarios … With this in mind, we will continue to assess cash exposures and debt-like adjustments as time progresses and the dates of new leases draw nearer. We may make a nonstandard adjustment to Moody’s adjusted debt based on our expectation of likely cash outflows.”

Comments

  • howaya
    I am not an accountant either, and so I'll pose a few questions. All of these players have huge war chests to draw from, no? Debt can be issued (as in the recently noted 100 year bonds) to cover these costs, no? Lease obligations can be broken, no?
  • AnnaAnna
    I was curious about the unnamed "landlords" in the article and did a google that AI pointed to another article at Forbes. Forbes let me read it as my last allowed article but, those that can access this and might help me, it only raised the next question - Who is the landlord's source of a "grid". I am ignorant on these things but, bear with me, does the public end up paying to expand, operate, and maintain the "grid" the landlord's use or is there another level of private entities that run "grids". Help!
    The AI Data Center Gold Rush Is Leaving The Landlords Behind
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