In a Washington Post opinion column published September 7, 2026, columnist Matthew Lynn argues that comparisons between today’s AI infrastructure spending and earlier speculative bubbles like the dot-com era may be misleading. He notes that, unlike many previous tech booms, the companies driving today’s AI buildout — Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon — already generate hundreds of billions of dollars in real profits and hold cash reserves comparable to those of smaller national economies. Lynn argues the frenzy may still carry risk but is structurally different from past bubbles because it rests on profitable balance sheets rather than pure speculation.
