Big Tech uses guarantees to keep $300bn AI exposure off balance sheets

FT reports that Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are using performance guarantees instead of direct capex to keep roughly $300bn in AI infrastructure commitments off their balance sheets. The guarantees mostly go to cloud providers and compute lessors, making the books look lighter while the real exposure remains. The post doesn't spell out each company's exact guarantee amount or maturity dates—the headline figure is FT's estimated total, not a precise audit number.

Why it matters: FT exclusive on Microsoft, Amazon, Google using take-or-pay guarantees to keep ~$300bn in AI compute exposure off balance sheets. All three HKR axes hit: novel financial engineering, concrete mechanism + number, and directly relevant to anyone tracking real AI capex. Score hel...