For a company that needs to purchase a machine, the future is also measured in the installment of a loan. For a tech giant, it may mean building new data centers. They are different needs, but both require capital. What happens when investors focus more and more resources on artificial intelligence?
Today, at the financial summit organized by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Xiao Yuanqi, vice president of the Chinese Financial Supervisory Authority, raised the issue. In his speech he highlighted that the concentration of investments in AI increases the indebtedness of technological protagonists and can make credit more expensive for traditional industries, weakening their ability to invest. It is an alarm about the risks of the ongoing transformation, not the demonstration that every more expensive loan depends on AI.
Because artificial intelligence requires new capital
Behind a digital service there are physical infrastructures: servers, semiconductors, buildings, connections and energy. Building them requires advance investments compared to the revenues they can generate.
Also in Hong Kong, Jon Gray, president of Blackstone, indicated the need for further capital raising to support the growth of AI. Blackstone is itself an investor in the sector’s infrastructure: its reading also reflects this position.
The scale of the phenomenon emerges from the LSEG data: in the first nine months of 2026 the collection of Asia-Pacific technology companies reached 125.8 billion dollars, compared to 36 billion a year earlier. The data concerns the entire technological sector, also supported by operations on semiconductors and AI.
Stocks, bonds and loans: money follows different paths
There is no single piggy bank from which a multinational and a small business draw without distinction. The financing channels have different characteristics and constraints.
| How to finance a business | What it entails |
|---|---|
| New actions | It receives capital from investors, sharing ownership and results |
| Bonds | He takes out debt on the market, committing to pay interest and repay the capital |
| Bank loans | Obtains credit after an assessment of the repayment capacity and any guarantees |
A bond issue by a technology group does not automatically take away financing from an Italian company.
Competition may, however, concern the willingness of investors to take on risk, the returns required and the choices of banks. The latter must evaluate how much capital to commit and which exposures to sustain. For this reason the alarm about concentration deserves attention, without transforming it into a mechanical relationship.
What the European credit data say
Useful feedback comes from the ECB bank credit survey, published on 27 October, covering the third quarter of 2026.
In the euro area, the balance between banks that tightened and loosened criteria for lending to businesses was 9%. It does not mean that credit has decreased by 9%: it measures the prevalence of the institutions’ responses.
The ECB attributes the tightening, above all, to the greater perception of risks and the reduced willingness to take them. The survey also signals expectations of growth in financing for digital infrastructures, in particular data centers. The co-presence of the two phenomena does not prove that AI caused the squeeze.
Italy does not follow exactly the same direction
For Italian companies there is an important distinction. In the quarter analyzed, credit granting criteria loosened in Italy, while they tightened in France and Germany. In our country, greater competition between banks has contributed, despite the worsening of perceived risks.
For the fourth quarter, however, the Italian institutions interviewed expect a tightening.
These data prevent us from talking about a generalized flight of credit from Italian companies towards the technological giants. The concrete question concerns, rather, the conditions under which each company is able to finance itself: interest, guarantees, duration and availability of the bank.
The risk for those who invest in large groups
For savers, the issue also involves funds that own shares or debt of companies involved in AI. Growing investments can open up opportunities, but require revenues and cash flows capable of supporting them.
At the same summit, Goldman Sachs leaders highlighted the risk of losses and the importance of diversification, while recognizing the ability of more solid companies to raise capital.
The diversification of the portfolio must therefore be interpreted by looking at the actual exposures: owning multiple funds does not exclude that many invest in the same groups.
Will the growth of artificial intelligence be able to produce benefits widespread enough to also support the rest of the economy? For those who run a business or invest their savings, results count: access to credit, debt sustainability and the ability to transform investments into income.
