AI’s race to transform the world before the money runs out

Tech executives gather to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Tuesday. | The Washington Post / VIA Bloomberg

Oct 3, 2026

London – Never has so much cash flowed into a new technology as is pouring into AI, eclipsing the sums splurged on railways or the internet when those technological revolutions sucked in capital.

Cumulative spending globally on data centers alone could top $30 trillion by 2050, according to a projection by PwC, almost matching the value of outstanding U.S. Treasuries. It “dwarfs” what was spent in the railroad or dotcom booms, even after adjusting for inflation, PwC said.

Meanwhile, Anthropic, just one of the major firms in the AI race, plans to spend $518 billion in coming years, according to the IPO prospectus, which is more than 100 times its 2025 revenue. Its backers say AI technology will be more transformational than the advent of steam engines and the industrialization they powered.

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