Hackers' Pub

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`"` keyword `"`	Finds the string within quotes, including spaces. Case-insensitive. (Escape quotes inside with `\"`)	`"Hackers' Pub"`
`from:` handle	Finds content written by the specified user.	`from:hongminhee` `from:hongminhee@hollo.social`
`lang:` ISO 639-1	Finds content written in the specified language.	`lang:en`
`#` tag	Finds content with the specified tag. Case-insensitive.	`#HackersPub`
condition condition	Finds content that satisfies both conditions on either side of the space (logical AND).	`"Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
condition `OR` condition	Finds content that satisfies at least one of the conditions on either side of the OR operator (logical OR).	`#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
`(` condition `)`	Combines the operators within the parentheses first.	`(#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" OR "Hackers Pub") lang:en`

David Gerard @davidgerard@circumstances.run

10/21/2025, 7:10:05 PM

Public

AI companies are raising huge amounts of debt off the books

https://archive.ph/2025.10.18-083207/https://wlockett.medium.com/the-ai-bubble-is-far-worse-than-we-thought-f070a70a90d7#selection-667.0-687.287

i'm sure it won't prove systemic or anything

While equity investment in AI has ballooned, it hasn’t been enough to cover the industry’s capital expense and operational losses. Naturally, AI “hyperscalers” like Meta and OpenAI are being forced to turn to debt to keep themselves in the AI race. But they know that if they are publicly seen raising billions of dollars in debt rather than equity, then the entire bubble might collapse around them. Debt brings more scrutiny than equity, given that repayment is required, and, as I have covered before, no aspect of AI is profitable, and as such, it can’t service debt.

Their solution has been to raise debt in secret. Dario Perkins, managing director of global macro at TS Lombard, has found that many AI companies are increasingly using SPVs to raise significant amounts of debt financing off the books. This covers their tracks and obfuscates the debt, making it “look” like the company is running on equity finance instead. Due to this, it is incredibly difficult to get an accurate figure on how much of the AI industry’s expenditure and growth comes from debt — but we know it is a lot!

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