At last week’s Amazon Business Reshape conference in Seattle, Rebecca Patterson, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, offered a pointed analysis of how an unprecedented surge in artificial intelligence (AI) capital spending is transforming both corporate strategy and the broader U.S. economy.
Patterson highlighted that private-sector investment in AI infrastructure has accelerated to a scale not seen since the space-race era. Major technology companies — Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta among them — are collectively on pace to invest $380 billion in data centers, semiconductor capacity, networking equipment and energy systems by the end of 2025. She noted that while the moon-landing initiative was government-financed, corporations are leading today’s equivalent wave. They’re creating new competitive pressures and budget constraints across industries.
This capital expenditure surge is already reshaping economic indicators. Patterson explained that AI investment is driving a significant share of current gross domestic product growth, even as labor-market gains slow. The pattern, she said indirectly, resembles a “jobless expansion” in which companies increase output through automation and efficiency rather than workforce growth. That shift is affecting everything from hiring plans to wage expectations to long-term productivity forecasts.
How AI spending is affecting the U.S. economy
Inside organizations, Patterson said the consequences are just as pronounced. Procurement teams are facing tighter budgets as capital flows toward AI infrastructure rather than operational categories.
She pointed to inflationary pressure on inputs tied to construction, power and advanced computing components. She also noted that suppliers in those sectors are seeing constrained capacity and rising costs. At the same time, companies must continue to fund ongoing AI platform development rather than treating these investments as one-off technology projects.
Patterson emphasized that making AI spending productive requires more than acquisition of tools. She urged organizations to:
- Strengthen data governance.
- Refine scenario-planning capabilities.
- Build more resilient sourcing strategies to offset the volatility associated with rapid infrastructure build-outs.
Without those foundations, she warned, companies risk misallocating capital or creating new operational bottlenecks.
Her overarching message to executives was clear: AI is creating a structural shift in how corporations allocate resources and how the economy grows. Companies that prepare their procurement, data and planning capabilities for this capital-intensive era will be better positioned to benefit from the long-term gains AI promises, while those that underestimate the scale of the transition may fall behind.
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