AI's build-out will take more of the economy than railroads did.
A Columbia economist put American spending on AI data centres at $10.3 trillion through 2032. That is 3.6% of national output each year, against 2.2% for the railway boom. The paper landed at the Brookings Institution this month, and its author doubts the revenue will follow.
Why it mattersThis money increasingly comes from private debt, which is harder to see when it goes wrong. A correction would not stay inside technology, because the lenders sit across the wider economy.
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