--- title: Big Tech is hiding $1.65tn in off-balance-sheet AI debt description: A Nikkei study reveals that Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle collectively carry $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt tied to AI infrastructure... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-is-hiding-1-65tn-in-off-balance-sheet-ai-debt-jus5f7dmm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Big Tech is hiding $1.65tn in off-balance-sheet AI debt | daily.dev og:description: A Nikkei study reveals that Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle collectively carry $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt tied to AI infrastructure... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-is-hiding-1-65tn-in-off-balance-sheet-ai-debt-jus5f7dmm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/juS5F7DmM.png og:image:alt: Big Tech is hiding $1.65tn in off-balance-sheet AI debt og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Big Tech is hiding $1.65tn in off-balance-sheet AI debt **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A Nikkei study reveals that Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle collectively carry $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt tied to AI infrastructure — more than the $1.35 trillion they officially report. The debt is structured through special purpose vehicles and joint ventures, keeping it out of headline financial statements. Meta alone holds roughly $420 billion off-book, nearly triple its reported debt, while Oracle's off-balance-sheet obligations have grown thirtyfold in four years. The practice is legal under current accounting rules, unlike Enron's fraudulent use of similar structures. Analysts and rating agencies including S&P, Morgan Stanley, and Moody's have flagged the risk: when data centres go live, leases roll onto balance sheets, and if AI demand disappoints, losses fall on lenders and insurers. Investors reading quarterly earnings this week will see less than half the true leverage picture. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Big Tech's AI debt hits $350bn and heads to Europe](https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-s-ai-debt-hits-350bn-and-heads-to-europe-zyvvvckzp) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#cloud](https://daily.dev/tags/cloud), [#big-tech](https://daily.dev/tags/big-tech), [#ai-infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-infrastructure) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-is-hiding-1-65tn-in-off-balance-sheet-ai-debt-jus5f7dmm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Big Tech is hiding $1.65tn in off-balance-sheet AI debt","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-is-hiding-1-65tn-in-off-balance-sheet-ai-debt-jus5f7dmm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-is-hiding-1-65tn-in-off-balance-sheet-ai-debt-jus5f7dmm"},"datePublished":"2026-07-21T17:34:41.748Z","dateModified":"2026-07-22T10:38:30.483Z","description":"A Nikkei study reveals that Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle collectively carry $1.65 trillion in off-balance-sheet debt tied to AI infrastructure...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/813bec8bee0f60c508ffd605485433c8?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/813bec8bee0f60c508ffd605485433c8?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/big-tech-is-hiding-1-65tn-in-off-balance-sheet-ai-debt-jus5f7dmm","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,cloud,big-tech,ai-infrastructure","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Big Tech is hiding $1.65tn in off-balance-sheet AI debt"}]} ```