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Howard Marks Calls AI Boom a Bubble as Global Investors Pivot to Infrastructure

Debt-heavy financing in a winner-take-all race raises unusual risks for lenders.

Overview

  • In a new memo, Oaktree’s Howard Marks labels the AI surge a bubble and advises investors to avoid both all-in bets and staying out entirely.
  • Marks warns about rising leverage, off‑balance‑sheet SPVs and circular deals, arguing that debt exposure is particularly vulnerable in a winner‑take‑all market.
  • At Abu Dhabi Finance Week, major investors voiced concern over stretched AI valuations yet backed investment in data centers and power capacity.
  • Reuters reports that Alphabet, Meta and Oracle have recently tapped bond markets to fund AI efforts, stoking worries about a financing-driven bubble.
  • Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman says AI could require roughly doubling electricity grids, while KKR’s Raj Agrawal urges caution on high data‑center multiples.