Wall Street grows wary of AI giants' massive funding plans

Wall Street is showing growing skepticism toward major AI companies' massive funding plans, as investors weigh concerns about who will ultimately bear the costs of the AI infrastructure buildout that has driven much of this year's market gains. Anthropic filed paperwork for its initial public offering on Monday, reportedly aiming for a $100 billion share sale as early as next month, despite its net loss widening to $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026 from $13 billion a year earlier. Meta's shares have dropped over 11% since announcing plans to create a new stock class for funding and reporting its first quarterly cash burn in over a decade. Smaller firms are also feeling pressure, with CoreWeave's shares hitting their lowest since May 2025 on debt concerns before rebounding about 10% this week. Analysts note growing circular financing arrangements, where AI investments flow back to investors through computing infrastructure spending, are adding to market unease.