Where's the Cash?

AI infrastructure valuations rest on unsettled debt, options and circular vendor deals, while cash-generative European firms are being bought out cheaply by private equity.

• AI financed by promises: Roughly half of the trillions being poured into AI is debt, layered atop vendor financing, options, and prepayments rather than cash — echoing 1990s telecom-bubble tactics.
• IREN's circular deal: NVIDIA signed a $3.4bn five-year capacity deal with neocloud IREN while taking rights to buy $2.1bn of IREN stock at a premium contingent on delivering 600,000 chips; stock jumped 27% though JPMorgan called it circular.

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