Doubts on AI investment to test Korean economy

Growing concerns over the sustainability of the global artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom are translating into mounting financing pressures on major tech companies, raising fears that a slowdown in AI spending could deal an outsized blow to Korea's semiconductor-dependent economy. Tech giants such as Google, Meta and Amazon are heavily relying on debt to finance their massive capital expenditures, as borrowing costs continue to rise. This also adds pressure to the fundraising plans of AI developers such as OpenAI and Anthropic. This could eventually slow the pace of AI investment and weigh on memory chip prices, potentially sending shock waves through Korea's broader economy, which heavily relies on corporate tax revenue from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. Google's parent company Alphabet disclosed on Wednesday that its capital expenditures amounted to 121.4 percent of the cash generated from operating activities, meaning the company spent more on investments, mostly in AI infrastructure, than it generated from its operations. Its free cash flow (FCF) remained negative for t