The most chilling detail in the Klarna CEO’s warning is the suspicion that the $1 trillion investment in data centers might be worthless. Sebastian Siemiatkowski fears a scenario where the infrastructure is built, but the demand to use it doesn’t justify the cost. This is the “Ghost Center” risk: acres of servers humming away, burning electricity, with no profitable customers.
This echoes the fiber-optic bubble of 2000, where companies laid miles of cable that weren’t “lit” for years. If AI turns out to be a niche product rather than a universal one, or if efficiency gains reduce the need for compute, the write-downs will be historic.
This risk is why JP Morgan is calling for a “reassessment” of valuations. You cannot value a company at $4 trillion based on ghost centers. The market needs to see real, recurring revenue from these investments.
The crypto market’s crash is a warning here too. Crypto mining centers are similar to AI data centers. When the price of Bitcoin drops, those centers become unprofitable and shut down. The same could happen to AI.