Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and chip companies have invested approximately $46 billion in equity capital in companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which in turn commit to purchasing cloud computing, chip, and data center services, creating a closed-loop funding cycle of "suppliers investing in customers—customers purchasing infrastructure."
This structure amplifies risk: investment funds support procurement, and procurement commitments are then used to finance the construction of more computing power. If end-customer revenue falls short, AI labs may simultaneously cut cloud service and chip orders, causing revenue, financing, and valuation to contract along the same chain. The IMF also points out that circular financing increases information opacity and allows the impact of a single company to be amplified throughout the entire AI industry chain through related-party transactions.
