OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says it makes sense for debt to flow into the AI infrastructure boom, noting that lending to build data centers is a rational way to finance systems that the industry expects to generate real economic value.
In an interview with journalist Alex Kantrowitz, Altman says the market looked overheated earlier this year, when routine meetings with companies were followed by sharp one-day stock pops that felt unstable.
“I think the market more lost its mind when earlier this year, we would meet with some company and that company’s stock would go up 20% or 15% the next day. That was crazy. That felt really unhealthy.”
In September, Oracle (ORCL) exploded 43% in a single day after news emerged that it signed a $300 billion compute deal with OpenAI.
Altman says the pullback and renewed skepticism in markets have been a positive shift, describing it as a move away from froth and toward discipline.
Looking ahead, the OpenAI CEO says that building AI infrastructure is likely to produce value even if the path is volatile, making it reasonable for lenders to participate in the buildout.
“On the debt front, I think we know that if we build infrastructure, we, the industry, someone’s going to get value out of it. It’s still totally early… I don’t think anyone’s still questioning that there’s not going to be value from AI infrastructure. And so I think it is reasonable for debt to enter this market.”
Altman also predicts that financing for AI infrastructure will evolve beyond traditional lending, including the creation of new structures that could become excessive as the market innovates.
“I think there will also be other kinds of financial instruments. I suspect we’ll see some unreasonable ones as people really innovate about how to finance this sort of stuff. Lending companies money to build data centers, that seems fine to me.”
Altman’s comments come as banking titan Morgan Stanley recently revealed its AI CapEx projections for next year. Serena Tang, chief global cross-asset strategist at Morgan Stanley, said that the bank expects $3 trillion in data center CapEx from today to 2028, believing half of the figure would come from credit channels.
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