investments have largely been funded through cash from operations. However, the upswing cash-rich Al companies issued around USD 200 billion in debt, and they are set to become among the largest issuers of corporate debt going forward (Bloomberg, 2025). Change in market capitalisation across the Al value chain, and Notes: Hyperscalers = Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services; chip designers = Nvidia, AMD, Arm and Broadcom; chip manufacturers = TSMC, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix; neo-clouds = Oracle, CoreWeave and Nebius; Capex = capital expenditures. The right-hand chart shows hyperscalers and Oracle. Capital expenditure for 2026 comes from company guidance, except in the case of Microsoft, where it is based on consensus estimates. Cash from operations for 2026 is based on consensus estimates. Source: IEA analysis based on data from S&P Global (2026). Markets are therefore sending mixed signals about the outlook for data centre growth. Capital expenditure, largely on data centres, is surging, signalling both optimism about the demand outlook among Al companies and stiff competition to capture it. At the same time,