expenditures

The final value of the real personal consumption expenditures quarter-on-quarter in the United States for the second quarter is 3.8%, higher than the expected 3.4% and the previous value of 3.4%.

Goldman Sachs Research released a viewpoint on September 18, stating that AI is transitioning from the experimental phase to the implementation phase, with the rise of consumer-grade AI agents marking the emergence of the platform layer. At the Communacopia + Technology Conference held in San Francisco, most companies showcased cases from experimentation to implementation. Goldman Sachs expects that by 2027, capital expenditures for U.S. mega-cap companies will reach $1.4 trillion, exceeding Wall Street consensus.Goldman Sachs analyst Eric Sheridan stated that consumer-grade AI agents are shifting from conversational relationships to action-oriented tasks. If consumers overcome trust and security issues, they could execute complex tasks such as purchasing tickets and booking hotels. The monetization of such agents in the mass market will be similar to search, achieved through advertising and subscriptions. AI is evolving from the infrastructure layer to the platform layer and application layer, with declining token unit pricing and increased utility being key drivers of mass adoption.During the conference, concerns about AI risks became a major topic, but Goldman Sachs believes this will not slow down infrastructure construction, as demand for computing power still exceeds supply and most projects have already been contracted. Supply chain constraints such as memory chips, electricity, and land may pose resistance, but the capital expenditure cycle is expected to remain high through 2027.

According to the New York Times, OpenAI expects its computing power expenditure to reach $750 billion by 2030.

According to Cointelegraph, a recent report by BlocksBridge Consulting shows that the capital expenditure for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) businesses of 9 publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies will reach $5.11 billion in the first half of 2026, while the related revenue during the same period is only $340 million, resulting in an input-output ratio of about 15:1, highlighting the significant upfront investment required for transformation. Among a sample of 15 mining companies and AI data center companies, the total capital expenditure for the reporting period in 2026 reached $30.7 billion, an increase of 42.6% compared to the entire year of 2025.Despite the investment far exceeding revenue, AI and HPC revenue is still accelerating. The 9 mining companies saw a quarter-on-quarter growth of 52% to $206 million in the second quarter, led by Core Scientific, TeraWulf, and Bitdeer. BlocksBridge pointed out that although mining companies have advantages in electricity and land, converting to AI-ready capacity still requires substantial investments in substations, cooling systems, network equipment, and GPUs.

According to Jinshi reports, Fed's Schmid stated that the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index is the best way to measure inflation.

According to Jinshi reports, SpaceX's Chief Financial Officer stated that capital expenditures in the third and fourth quarters will be similar to the levels in the second quarter.

According to an analysis of LSEG consensus expectation data by Reuters, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle are facing cash flow pressures from AI investments. On the current trajectory, by 2027, the combined capital expenditures of these companies are expected to exceed their generated free cash flow. Data shows that these companies' annual operating cash flow in 2027 will increase by approximately $340 billion compared to 2025, but capital expenditures are expected to increase by about $534 billion, meaning that for every additional $1 in cash flow, an extra investment of about $1.57 is required.Among them, Oracle faces the most significant pressure, with its capital expenditures as a percentage of operating cash flow rising from 47% in the 2022 fiscal year to 174% in the 2026 fiscal year (ending in May), with total capital expenditures reaching $55.7 billion, while operating cash flow is only $32 billion. The company's stock price has already dropped 36% this year. Amazon also saw its free cash flow drop to $1.2 billion in the first quarter. Analysts point out that if AI fails to significantly drive revenue growth, expand profits, and improve cash flow in the next two to three years, the market will begin to question whether the investment cycle has been excessive. Alphabet will be the first to announce its earnings report this Wednesday, and the market will closely monitor whether its cloud and AI revenues can keep pace with the growth in expenditures.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna recently expressed serious doubts about the massive capital expenditures by competitors in the pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) during an interview. Krishna estimates that the current cost of building a 1-gigawatt data center is about $80 billion; if the entire industry deploys 100 gigawatts of computing power to achieve AGI, total capital expenditures could reach $8 trillion. He pointed out that this means companies would need to generate $800 billion in profit just to cover interest, making it fundamentally impossible to achieve a return on investment from a business logic perspective.Additionally, Krishna believes that the probability of achieving AGI relying on currently known large language model (LLM) technology is extremely low (only 0% to 1%), unless there are fundamental technological breakthroughs in integrating knowledge with LLMs. Despite his pessimistic view on the short-term realization of AGI, he still acknowledges that generative AI will unleash trillions of dollars in productivity value for enterprises.

According to BusinessInsider, billionaire investor and hedge fund founder of Third Point, Dan Loeb, stated in a podcast that current market concerns about the "bubble theory" of artificial intelligence (AI) are greatly exaggerated, and the development stage of the AI industry is completely different from that of the internet bubble period.Loeb pointed out that technology giants, including Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, have collectively exceeded $700 billion in capital expenditures this year, which may reach $1 trillion next year, with the vast majority allocated for AI infrastructure development. He stated that to believe these capital expenditures will not yield returns is equivalent to thinking that companies are "burning money for no reason," but currently, these companies have strong profitability and ample cash flow, allowing them to support investments with their own balance sheets.Loeb emphasized that this is different from the situation during the internet bubble when "valuations detached from fundamentals," and does not constitute a traditional valuation bubble. He also mentioned that AI companies like Anthropic are experiencing rapid revenue growth and accelerated product applications, indicating that the industry is still in the early stages of expansion.Reports indicate that Anthropic's latest financing valuation is nearing $965 billion, with annualized revenue jumping from $14 billion to $47 billion, further strengthening market confidence in the commercialization potential of AI.However, there are still some investors in the market, including Michael Burry, who express concerns about the overheated valuations of AI, believing that massive investments may struggle to yield corresponding returns. Loeb, on the other hand, stated, "We haven't even scratched the surface of AI development," and believes that we are still in the early stages of long-term growth.

In mid-2026, multiple data points indicate that AI tools are generating significant hidden costs. A survey by Entelligence AI of 2,444 companies found that for every $1 spent on AI, $0.44 is used to fix vulnerabilities, $0.27 is spent on rewriting AI-generated code, and $0.11 is consumed by audit and merge delays.The 2026 report from Lightrun further notes that 43% of AI-generated code still requires manual debugging in production environments after passing quality checks, and no surveyed engineering leaders expressed complete trust in the AI outputs that have been deployed.On the infrastructure front, Oracle has accumulated approximately $108 billion in total debt and is raising another $50 billion in 2026 for AI data center construction, with free cash flow nearing negative $13 billion. Over $300 billion of its $553 billion backlog is concentrated in OpenAI, which incurred a loss of about $14 billion last year. In terms of talent, OKX CEO Stax Xu stated that AI agents have exposed employees who rely on impression management rather than outcome production while accelerating execution. The exchange has now incorporated AI proficiency into its employee evaluation system.

Brazilian President Lula has signed Law No. 15,358, which explicitly incorporates seized cryptocurrency assets during law enforcement into the public safety funding system for expenditures such as police equipment, intelligence operations, and personnel training.The law allows for the temporary use of relevant cryptocurrency assets prior to final conviction with court approval. The new regulations also significantly expand the powers of judicial authorities, allowing them to freeze, block, or confiscate cryptocurrency assets during the investigation phase, including restricting access to exchange accounts, digital wallets, and related platforms. Once convicted, the individuals involved will be permanently deprived of the ability to use the formal financial system and cryptocurrency systems. Additionally, the law categorizes the use of encrypted communication tools or privacy technologies to conceal criminal activities as an aggravating circumstance, promotes cross-border asset recovery and intelligence sharing, and establishes a national database to integrate the financial structures of criminal organizations. Analysts believe that this initiative marks Brazil's shift of cryptocurrency assets from potential reserve tools to law enforcement resources, strengthening the crackdown on organized crime (such as PCC and Comando Vermelho) while advancing the judicial system's regulatory and disposal capabilities regarding digital assets.

According to Jinshi reports, "the Fed's mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos stated that the core PCE annualized for 1 month is 4.5%, for 3 months is 3.7%, and for 6 months is 3.1%; the overall personal consumption expenditures annualized for 1 month is 3.4%, for 3 months is 3.5%, and for 6 months is 3.2%.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, U.S. stocks rebounded strongly on Monday, with the S&P 500 index rising 1.6%, reversing last Friday's decline of over 2%, and the Nasdaq 100 index soaring 2.1%. OpenAI and Broadcom announced a partnership to develop custom chips and networking equipment, injecting new positives into the market.Tom Essaye of Sevens Report stated that as long as the AI capital expenditure boom continues, the stock market can maintain its strength, but if the market begins to doubt the stimulating effect of AI on the overall economy, the decline will be swift and painful. Gabelli fund manager John Belton pointed out that while there are signs of overheating in certain areas, calling it a "bubble" is overly simplistic.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin Magazine, the Prime Minister of Bhutan believes that strategic reserve Bitcoin can fund national expenditures.

ChainCatcher news, according to an announcement from the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the department has canceled 167 contracts today, saving approximately $115 million in expenditures. This includes a $2.23 million contract for the "Existing Program Policy Equity Assessment" from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ChainCatcher news, according to The Information, the impact of DeepSeek has not slowed down the expansion of tech companies' capital expenditures on AI. Google's parent company Alphabet stated that it expects capital expenditures to reach $75 billion this year, a 43% increase from 2024.This brings Google very close to Microsoft, which has stated that it will spend $80 billion on building AI data centers in the fiscal year ending in June. Meta Platforms plans to spend up to $65 billion on capital expenditures, just slightly behind. Meanwhile, Amazon expects its capital expenditures for 2024 to be $75 billion.

ChainCatcher message, Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng posted on platform X: "There is an unpopular opinion that all governments should track all their expenditures on the blockchain (an immutable public ledger), which is also the reason why government payments are referred to as 'public spending'."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, based on year-to-date data, 16 publicly listed crypto mining companies have spent a total of $3.6 billion on property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) upgrades, including new mining hardware. So far in 2024, these 16 mining companies have raised over $5 billion, with the third quarter being the highest period for PP&E spending since the first quarter of 2022. Spending on mining hardware accounts for the majority of PP&E expenditures. Since 2023, publicly listed mining companies have spent a total of $2 billion on hardware upgrades. The report explains that the lifespan of crypto mining hardware typically averages 3-5 years and must be upgraded regularly to maintain profitability. Additionally, crypto companies are shifting from equity financing to debt financing.Regarding the PP&E expenditures of mining companies in November 2024, Bitfarms signed a miner hosting agreement with Stronghold on November 1, which includes terms for hosting an additional 10,000 Bitcoin mining devices at its facility in Pennsylvania. Around the same time, CleanSpark, a company focused on renewable Bitcoin mining, announced plans to build 400 megawatts of mining infrastructure after acquiring mining company GRIID in October 2024. On November 11, Hive Digital purchased 6,500 application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for the company's upcoming facility in Paraguay.