Blackstone President Jon Gray said today at the Hong Kong International Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit that AI-related spending by Blackstone’s portfolio companies had increased twentyfold over the past year, and that various AI applications were already generating real revenue. Comparing the current boom with the telecom boom of the 1990s, he said that back then, supply was built first in anticipation of demand, whereas AI today is driven by demand. He warned that the huge capital expenditures on AI infrastructure pose a risk of concentrated debt: lenders earn only interest and principal and cannot share in the upside. The industry needs more equity capital to support this wave of investment. At the same event, PIMCO CEO Emmanuel Roman issued a contrasting warning: citing estimates from General Atlantic, he said AI capital expenditure needs could reach $10 trillion over the next five years. The scale of financing is enormous, creating a risk of a future crash, potentially triggered by rising U.S. Treasury yields, geopolitical conflicts, and other factors. AI-related debt issuance has already reached about $550 billion this year.