Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Oracle Corp, Amazon and Alphabet have committed about $1.09 trillion in future payments under leases that have not yet begun, mostly for data centres ‌needed to power the artificial intelligence boom. The commitments show that a substantial part of Big Tech's ‌AI spending spree has already been locked in, without yet appearing as debt-like lease liabilities on company balance sheets. The total is nearly four times the roughly $285 billion of lease liabilities already recognised on the companies' balance sheets, according to company filings compiled by ‌Reuters.