Google-Meta AI lease signals shift to intelligence as a utility in the data economy

A recent headline caught my attention in a way
most AI news does not. Google, it said, had signed a major agreement to lease
access to its custom AI chips to Meta for training large artificial
intelligence models. At first glance, this was just another big-tech company
securing more computing power in the global AI arms race. I’ve questioned the
bubble of circular investments in AI infrastructure among the Magnificent 7
before. The Google/Meta announcement sounded like more of the same. But one
word in the headline kept nagging at me.

Lease. 

Leasing is common when an asset holds value
over time. Cars, aircraft, and heavy construction equipment are leased because
the owner expects the asset to remain useful after the first contract ends. A
leased airplane might fly for thirty years and you can make more money leasing
it for a long time than…