Microsoft has also stopped converting so-called statement of qualifications, which are agreements that usually lead to formal leases, TD Cowen said. That was a tactic rivals such as Meta Platforms employed previously, when it decided to cut back on capital spending, the brokerage wrote.
Microsoft has begun canceling leases for a substantial amount of data centre capacity in the US, a move that may reflect concerns about whether it’s building more AI computing than it will need over the long term, TD Cowen said in a report.
OpenAI’s biggest backer has voided leases totalling “a couple of hundred megawatts” of capacity, analysts from the American multinational investment bank and financial services division of TD Securities wrote on Friday, citing channel checks or inquiries with supply chain providers.
