Five tech giants are hiding $1.65tn in AI debt, using the trick that toppled Enron
Five of the biggest US tech giants are carrying $1.65 trillion in debt that does not show up on their balance sheets, more than the debt that does. It is bankrolling the AI data-centre boom, it is perfectly legal, and it uses the same accounting trick that brought down Enron.
Look at what Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle officially owe, and the numbers seem large but manageable. Look off the books, and a second, bigger pile of debt appears.
A Nikkei study put that hidden figure at $1.65 trillion, up roughly eightfold in four years. It is more than the $1.35 trillion the five report outright.
