There is trillions of dollars on the line in the AI trade Tech companies have accumulated more than $4 trillion in future obligations tied to AI data centres, computing equipment, electricity and long-term infrastructure agreements Goldman Sachs estimates that Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle account for $3.6 trillion, including $1.7 trillion in lease commitments and $1.9 trillion in future purchases Many of these obligations are not yet recognised as balance-sheet liabilities This raises questions about future cash flow, borrowing requirements and the financial burden of the AI expansion