The bill comes due: How big tech’s AI gold rush turned into a budget crisis

Fired workers. Cancelled data centres. A $500 million accidental bill. The AI hype cycle is finally colliding with reality — and the industry has a hard reckoning ahead.

Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan & Manpreet Singh•Updated: Sep 8, 2026 12:38 AM• 1378 views

Representative Image

Credit: Pexels

Share this Article:

Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan

Author

View Profile

A senior economist and affiliate faculty member at University of Washington Seattle, Founder of Infinite Sum Modeling LLC, Seattle and Former Head, Trade, NITI Aayog, GoI, New Delhi.

View Profile

Manpreet Singh

Author

View Profile

Manpreet Singh is an economist and Assistant Vice President, GENPACT

View Profile