Dwindling Cash and Soaring Memory Costs: Tech’s AI Buildout Has Ballooning Price Tag

Almost four years into the AI boom, tech megacaps are still burning cash as AI buildouts strain their balance sheets. Reports of negative cash flow—along with steep increases in capital spending—underscore how difficult it is to monetize AI quickly. Costs are rising even more than expected because of a “memory crunch,” caused by heavy demand for memory used in AI processors and limited supplier capacity. Executives also point to memory price increases as a key driver of guidance changes.