The massive global spending on AI is a historical technology frenzy that may eventually create the infrastructure for long-term economic transformation .[Courtesy]
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33.
What would you call a business that spends Sh30 for every Sh1 it earns and calls it a strategy? In any other boardroom, you would call it a crisis.
In 2026, you call it the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race. AI represents a sweeping global modernisation that mimics historic economic eras, like the Industrial Revolution, on steroids, operating at hyper-speed.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are spending close to Sh94 trillion on AI infrastructure this year alone. That is nearly 30 times the roughly Sh3.2 trillion these companies generated in AI service revenue in 2025.
Since 2020, big tech AI infrastructure spending has crossed Sh194 trillion.
McKinsey projects global data centre spending could reach Sh906 trillion by 2030. Yet only 39 per cent of organisations report any measurable financial impact from AI, per McKinsey's own 2025 global survey.
The world's most sophisticated capital is spending at a pace that would bankrupt most nations, for returns most businesses would find embarrassing. Almost nobody in that race is pausing to ask why.