Big Tech holds $3T in off-balance-sheet AI commitments, dwarfing reported spending

The AI spending boom has a shadow. Nine of the largest technology companies are sitting on approximately $3 trillion in off-balance-sheet commitments tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. That figure is roughly five times the $600 billion in combined capital expenditures these firms reported over their most recent 12-month periods. Where the money is hiding The WSJ breakdown splits the $3 trillion into two main buckets. The first is unstarted leases, valued at roughly $904 billion to $1.2 trillion depending on the data source. These are commitments to data-center space that companies have locked in but haven’t yet begun using, meaning they don’t show up as liabilities on the balance sheet under current accounting rules. The second bucket is purchase commitments, estimated between $1.52 trillion and $1.9 trillion. These cover long-term agreements for chips, data-center construction, and energy procurement. Individual company figures paint an even starker picture. Alphabet leads the pack with $811 billion in purchase and contractual commitments as of June 30, 2026. Meta, meanwhile, carries $347 billion in leases that haven’t yet ...