Mitrade Insights is dedicated to providing investors with rich, timely and most valuable financial information to help investors grasp the market situation and find timely trading opportunities.

2021

Best News & Analysis Provider

FxDailyInfo

2022

Best Forex Educational Resources Global

International Business Magazine

Insights

News

Cryptocurrencies

Is AI Spending Too Big—or Is Earth's Economy Just Too Small? Elon Musk Picks a Side

Source Beincrypto

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says Earth’s entire economy is less than a trillionth the size of a star-powered “K2 economy.” He made the remark while reposting a chart comparing AI infrastructure spending with America’s biggest infrastructure booms.

The chart sets projected AI outlays through 2032 against actual spending from past eras. On those estimates, AI is on pace to outstrip railroads, highways, and telecom. Musk, however, pointed to a far bigger yardstick.

AI Infrastructure Spending Is Set to Top Every Past Boom

A venture investor shared the chart on X with a one-word caption, “Epic.” It tracks average annual US infrastructure spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

An Earth economy is less than a trillionth the size of a K2 economy https://t.co/CiVPMCuGf3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 24, 2026

According to the chart, AI outlays should average 3.63% of GDP between 2025 and 2032. By comparison, railroads averaged 2.24% from 1870 to 1890. Highways reached 1.13%, while telecom and fiber hit 1.1% around the dot-com era. Meanwhile, canals and electrification trailed at 0.66% and 0.5%.

The data credits Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a real estate professor at Columbia Business School. His research puts the total buildout near $8.2 trillion across data centers, power, and IT equipment.

He also warns that losses could spread to pension funds and other lenders if enthusiasm fades. Other skeptics point to circular Big Tech funding deals. Billionaire investor Ray Dalio has issued an AI bubble liquidity warning as well.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights.

Why Musk Measures Economies in Stars

The “K2” reference points to the Kardashev scale, a framework that ranks civilizations by energy use. A Type II civilization would harness nearly all the power its star produces.

Musk has made this case before. He has argued that SpaceX could outvalue Earth by tapping far more solar energy than humanity uses today. Therefore, space-based industry could eventually dwarf the current economy, in his view.

His nearer-term plans are more modest. In June, he outlined a path to quadrillionaire status that relies on factories on the Moon and Mars. Such outposts would still fall far short of capturing the Sun’s full output.

For now, investors face a nearer question. Can returns justify AI infrastructure spending on a scale set to top the railroad era?

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Recommended Articles

Gold ends three-week slide at the $4,400 line — eight straight days of ETF inflows vs a 5% 10-year and a 100 dollar Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.

Author Suzie

Sep 20, Sun

Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.

October hike odds climb toward 60% as Goldman and BofA both flip — what Warsh's "dose of accommodation" really changed Rate futures now price roughly 55% to 62% for a 25bp hike at the October 27-28 FOMC, up from about 30% before Chair Warsh's post-meeting framing that the Fed is merely "removing some accommodation." Goldman Sachs has added an October hike to its forecast and Bank of America now sees moves in both October and December. Here is the repricing, the language behind it, and the two data points that decide it.

Author Irene Q.

Yesterday 06: 22

Rate futures now price roughly 55% to 62% for a 25bp hike at the October 27-28 FOMC, up from about 30% before Chair Warsh's post-meeting framing that the Fed is merely "removing some accommodation." Goldman Sachs has added an October hike to its forecast and Bank of America now sees moves in both October and December. Here is the repricing, the language behind it, and the two data points that decide it.

Memory chips surge, Nasdaq notches a second straight record close — why the Dow fell 185 points anyway Micron gained 5%, SanDisk 6.8%, Seagate 4% and Western Digital 3% as the memory complex led the Nasdaq Composite to a second consecutive record close of 27,244.28. But the Dow fell 185 points as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Schwab slid more than 3% each — a split tape that says more about positioning than about the economy.

Author Irene Q.

Yesterday 06: 51

Micron gained 5%, SanDisk 6.8%, Seagate 4% and Western Digital 3% as the memory complex led the Nasdaq Composite to a second consecutive record close of 27,244.28. But the Dow fell 185 points as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Schwab slid more than 3% each — a split tape that says more about positioning than about the economy.

Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD drifts toward $4.300 with bears gaining traction Gold (XAU/USD) retraces Tuesday’s gains on Wednesday and drifts lower, approaching the $4,300 area as the US Dollar Index (DXY) rallies further amid high US Treasury yields.

Author FXStreet

Yesterday 10: 02

Gold (XAU/USD) retraces Tuesday’s gains on Wednesday and drifts lower, approaching the $4,300 area as the US Dollar Index (DXY) rallies further amid high US Treasury yields.

US input costs rose at the fastest pace in four years — the September flash PMI beat is an inflation story, not a growth story US September flash PMIs came in far above expectations, with the composite at 58.4, a five-year high. But the detail that moved markets was input cost inflation at its fastest since October 2022, driven by fuel, transport and supply shortages. Brent is back above $100 and the 10-year Treasury yield has hit its highest since 2007.

Author Suzie

6 hours ago

US September flash PMIs came in far above expectations, with the composite at 58.4, a five-year high. But the detail that moved markets was input cost inflation at its fastest since October 2022, driven by fuel, transport and supply shortages. Brent is back above $100 and the 10-year Treasury yield has hit its highest since 2007.

Popular Symbols