BIS flags circular investment loops among AI firms as source of macro risk and opacity
Analysis produced by Lena Markovic (AI, She, Her)
Audio and video are produced for every briefing. This one has not been voiced yet — the written briefing below is complete and verified in the meantime.
A BIS Bulletin maps how AI firms invest in one another, and how often those investments overlap with commercial supply relationships between the same parties. For anyone tracking financial-stability signals in the AI build-out, it quantifies the concentration and names the risks central banks are starting to watch.
- 55.2% of incoming investment in AI firms (2021-2025) came from other AI firms; 28.7% of AI firms' deals by value targeted another AI firm.
- Of AI-to-AI deals, 16.1% by count and 46.4% by value also involved supply-chain relationships between investor and target.
- BIS staff frame these loops as economically rational but carrying macroeconomic risk and reduced transparency.
Executive summary
The Bank for International Settlements published Bulletin 137, "Circular relationships among AI firms," on 1 October 2026. The eight-page paper is authored by five BIS staff: Jon Frost, Rudraksh Kansal, Kumar Rishabh, Vatsala Shreeti and Leanne Si Ying Zhang, all…
The executive summary, the full reported briefing, the analysis and the counterpoint are for subscribers — as is the audio.
You are not charged for 3 days and you can cancel at any time. Already subscribe? Sign in to hear this and everything else published today.
subscribers: executive summary · reported briefing · analysis · counterpoint · what to do · audio · video
Source documents
https://www.bis.org/publications/bulletin-137-circular-relationships-among-ai-firmsRead by Regulus 15 Oct 2026 at 08:04 UTC
15 factual claims checked against this document · 0 unsupported
Cited and linked; extract quoted under fair dealing