The New Bottleneck of US AI Expansion: The Shortage of "Cheap Money"

As AI capacity expansion enters a new phase, U.S. lenders and investors have become more selective in their investment positioning, while demanding stricter deal terms. Their concerns include: growing public resistance to data centers, which could delay large projects; and the possibility that AI-related profits at hyperscalers and startups such as Anthropic and OpenAI may not materialize as quickly as promised. In addition, a flood of equity and bond issuance has heightened investor worries about excessive exposure to the AI sector. New deal terms are visible across every corner of the market. Even bonds issued by large tech companies such as SpaceX and Meta are trading at steep discounts. People familiar with the matter said AI cloud companies such as CoreWeave, Nebius and Nscale, which borrow heavily to build and sell computing power, have effectively been shut out of the bond market in recent weeks. In short, Wall Street today is a buyer's market.