tl;dr: Tens of billions in AI infrastructure debt is now collateralized by GPU clusters whose real value depends on operational tacit knowledge, failure rates (~50/day at 200k GPUs), and volatile rental prices that swung 60% down then 40% up in 18 months. Unlike aircraft or ships, GPUs lack appraisers, registries, futures markets, or standardized depreciation—CoreWeave uses 6 years, Nebius 4—leaving lenders charging 6-7 points above benchmark as the price of guessing. Smart money like KKR is buying the underlying data centers instead, while Thiel dumped NVIDIA, betting the chips themselves aren't the durable asset the financing pretends they are.