[HDThoreaun]

Because this isnt actaully debt. Almost all of it is agreements to pay for completed datacenters from developers. Its just a way to offload operational risk when constructing datacenters. If the construction somehow fails theyre not stuck with the bill.

[oblio]

> If the construction somehow fails theyre not stuck with the bill.

Who is stuck with that bill and what is their ultimately their primary source of financing?

[HDThoreaun]

Well theyre locking in the price now. They go to developers and offer to sign exclusive leases on a datacenter they designed that isnt built yet. This strategy offloads risk to the developer because theyre the ones who need to ensure the dc gets built on time and budget in order to get paid. Yes, the biggest costs here is the hardware, but theres still tons of other issues to figure out before you get to hardware install and these conditional leases make it so they dont need to worry about that stuff.

[psd1]

According to ciphertalk, VCs charging high premiums: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48917135