America’s $10 trillion AI infrastructure boom is starting to show strain

America is attempting the largest infrastructure buildout in its modern history. The bill, by one academic estimate, comes to $10.3 trillion. The scale of the bet The headline figure comes from a 2026 paper by Stijn van Nieuwerburgh of Columbia Business School. He projects $10.3 trillion in US AI infrastructure investment between 2025 and 2032. Spread across those years, that works out to about 3.63% of US GDP annually. For historical comparison, the paper points to the railroad buildout of the late 19th century. That era peaked at roughly 2.2% of GDP. A large share of the spending sits with the hyperscalers: Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, and Oracle. Their capital expenditures are projected at $4.2 trillion through 2029. That spending is expected to surpass their operating cash flow by 2026. Even the richest companies on Earth would need to lean primarily on external capital to fund the buildout, according to the research. Where the strain is showing Constraints in power supply, shortages of skilled workers, and construction delays are all slowing projects. Google has cited expected grid connection delays of five to ten years, driven by data center demand. The pressure is part...