The BIS report:
https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2026e1.pdf"The five largest hyperscalers are set to spend over a trillion US dollars on AI-related capital expenditure from 2025 through 2026. These commitments are outpacing earnings and the free cash flow of these firms, leading some to issue debt to raise additional financing (Graph 11.A). This investment race may be partly driven by the perception that only a small number of players with superior technology will ultimately dominate the market shares. The
intense competition raises the risk of firms over-committing resources to investment projects with still uncertain returns, leaving all firms vulnerable to disappointments in AI payoffs. Model analysis based on such contest motives highlights the downside risk of current AI exuberance. As competitive pressure drives capex higher, the net economic surplus – the total payoff less investment costs – declines for the sector as a whole and could turn negative in adverse scenarios (Graph 11.B). Disappointment in returns could trigger a sudden pullback in financing and turn the capex boom into a protracted investment bust, with potential knock-on effects on financial conditions (see below).
Another risk is that the AI boom runs into a supply side roadblock. The AI build- out has recently been facing growing bottlenecks in electricity, advanced semiconductors and grid equipment. Fast-growing demand for computing power is already pressuring electricity prices and input costs, with potential spillovers to inflation. Looking ahead, these temporary shortages may also amplify over-investment, as firms attempt to lock in future capacity through long-dated contracts that further expose them to any disappointments in demand.
...
Should inflation rise significantly or AI-led investment turn to a bust, the macroeconomic consequences could be amplified by existing financial vulnerabilities. A tightening of policy rates needed to contain inflation could precipitate a sharp pullback in asset prices after a prolonged period of exuberant risk-taking, triggering
disruptive macro-financial feedback loops. A reversal of AI optimism could likewise have major financial consequences, given AI firms’ rising leverage and growing footprint in credit markets. Vulnerabilities extend to their supplier ecosystem, including engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors whose balance sheets are comparatively weak, leaving them exposed to any capex pullback by hyperscalers.
...
A sharp repricing of equity risk could prompt a reassessment of corporate credit risk and lead to tighter credit conditions more broadly.1 Indeed, broad indices of credit spreads tend to correlate negatively with stock market returns (Graph 14.A), more so for the high-yield than the investment grade segment. While large, synchronised corrections in both markets are rare, there are notable precedents such as the Great Financial Crisis and the March 2020 dash for cash episode. A repricing of risk this time, whether triggered by higher interest rates or an AI bust, has the potential to be similarly disruptive by triggering a corporate credit freeze with wider implications for aggregate investment."