Require Full-Deal Transparency

Data center deals are becoming increasingly convoluted and opaque, with Big Tech firms using distinct legal entities known as special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) to fund and execute data center deals. These deals are “off-balance sheet,” meaning that the deal—and any debt the SPV has raised—is not listed on Big Tech firms’ balance sheets, thus masking a clear picture of a company’s financial health.1 Federal policymakers should prohibit public firms from using SPVs and other financial vehicles to hide data center investments on balance sheets, or should fully investigate the terms of these deals. 

  1. Advait Arun, Bubble or Nothing: Data Center Project Finance, Center for Public Enterprise, November 2025, https://publicenterprise.org/wp-content/uploads/Bubble-or-Nothing.pdf. ↩︎