AI titans’ ‘circular deals’ are starting to look like ‘daisy chains’

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

Spellman, J. D. (2026, September 7). AI titans’ ‘circular deals’ are starting to look like ‘daisy chains’. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3366149/ai-titans-circular-deals-are-starting-look-daisy-chains?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-09-07 · by James David Spellman

Quick Summary

James David Spellman, principal of Strategic Communications LLC, warns that "circular deals" among AI titans may resemble the failed "daisy chains" of the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis. OpenAI has made several high-profile deals with companies like Nvidia and Lambda, totaling over $35 billion, while Nvidia is involved in over $750 billion worth of AI investments and partnerships. The total debt of the five largest hyperscalers exceeds $1.65 trillion through special purpose vehicles and other off-balance-sheet structures. This complex web of financial commitments raises concerns about the risks of systemic collapse if revenue fails to keep pace with costs or a black swan event disrupts the AI industry.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-07, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

OpenAI and its competitors, including Anthropic and xAI, have formed complex financial agreements with companies like Nvidia and CoreWeave. These deals involve long-term commitments for financing, buying semiconductors, securing power, and leasing data centers. The agreements are raising concerns that they resemble the "daisy chains" of the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis, where interconnected transactions hid underlying problems and ultimately led to widespread bank failures. OpenAI is planning an initial public offering for next year, while its competitors have also secured similar deals. Anthropic has recently signed a $35 billion cloud-computing deal with Lambda and a $45 billion arrangement with Nscale to rent data-center capacity. If revenue fails to keep pace with costs or a "black swan event" disrupts the AI industry, these agreements could lead to similar systemic risks.

Written for “AI Industry Antitrust Scandal” on 2026-10-22, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 AI Industry Antitrust Scandal
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
12
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
33%
4 of 12 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-07 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 2870 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

James David Spellman
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Today’s financial engineering – an incestuous ecosystem of interlocking multi-year commitments to provide financing, buy semiconductors, secure gigawatts of power and lease data centres – could meet a similar fate, especially if revenue fails to outpace costs or a black swan event eviscerates artificial intelligence (AI) trajectories.
2026-09-07 · mixed framing · AI titans’ ‘circular deals’ are starting to look like ‘daisy chains’
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

Anthropic Nvidia Oxford University Strategic Communications LLC Washington

Subjects

Nvidia ORG · 4× Anthropic ORG · 2× CoreWeave ORG · 1× James David Spellman PERSON · 1× Lambda ORG · 1× OpenAI ORG · 1× Oxford University ORG · 1× Strategic Communications LLC ORG · 1× Washington GPE · 1× xAI ORG · 1×

Narrative

OpenAI has struck deals with Nvidia, CoreWeave and others ahead of an initial public offering planned for next year while competitors Anthropic and xAI have pursued similar agreements.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-07
🔮 Today’s financial engineering – an incestuous ecosystem of interlocking multi-year commitments to provide financing, buy semiconductors, secure gigawatts of power and lease data centres – could meet a similar fate, especially if revenue fails to outpace costs or a black swan event eviscerates artificial intelligence (AI) trajectories.
2026-09-07 · South China Morning Post
AI titans’ ‘circular deals’ are starting to look like ‘daisy chains’ · mixed framing

Claims (12 extracted, 4 hedged)

James David Spellman, a graduate of Oxford University, is principal of Strategic Communications LLC, a consulting firm based in Washington, DC. asserted
Spellman → consult → Washington
The “circular deals” among AI titans increasingly resemble the “daisy chains” of the 1980s savings-and-loan crisis. asserted
deals → resemble → crisis
Forty years ago, interconnected transactions obscured the dangers, multiplied systemic risks and helped inflate asset values before roughly a third of US thrift banks failed. asserted
third → obscure → banks
Today’s financial engineering – an incestuous ecosystem of interlocking multi-year commitments to provide financing, buy semiconductors, secure gigawatts of power and lease data centres – could meet a similar fate, especially if revenue fails to outpace costs or a black swan event eviscerates artificial intelligence (AI) trajectories. uncertain
event → interlock → trajectories
OpenAI has struck deals with Nvidia, CoreWeave and others ahead of an initial public offering planned for next year while competitors Anthropic and xAI have pursued similar agreements. asserted
Anthropic → strike → agreements
Last month, the AI developer signed a US$45 billion arrangement with another Nvidia-backed neocloud, Nscale, to rent data-centre capacity. asserted
developer → sign → capacity
Nvidia is involved in more than US$750 billion worth of AI investments, financing deals and partnerships, according to PitchBook. uncertain
Nvidia → involve → PitchBook
Demand from AI labs receiving Nvidia financial support will account for roughly a quarter of the company’s business next year, CFO Colette Kress said. asserted
Kress → receive → business
The rash of AI investments is unprecedented in scale – 4.5 times the level three years ago, according to Bank for International Settlements data. uncertain
rash → accord → data
This raises a question: how much of the industry’s extraordinary growth is being financed by the same companies benefiting from it? asserted
much → raise → it
Meanwhile, hidden risks are colliding with a borrowing binge well under way. asserted
risks → collide → way
The five largest hyperscalers carry roughly US$1.65 trillion in debt through special purpose vehicles and other off-balance-sheet structures, exceeding the US$1.35 trillion they report directly, according to Nikkei. uncertain
they → carry → Nikkei
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