Cahn’s July 2026 lifetime end-customer revenue requirement per annual investment cohort
~$1.5T lifetime per capex-yearestimate
| Value kind | estimate — Interpret this value according to its displayed kind, scope, source, and as-of date. |
|---|---|
| Scope | Lifetime revenue per annual investment cohort. Not an annual shortfall, realized revenue, or a project cash-flow model. |
| As of | 2026-07 |
| Source | David Cahn, AI’s $1.5T Question, 8 July 2026 · Paragraphs explaining projected data-center revenue ×2×2, or roughly $750B annual hyperscaler data-center capex ×2 |
| Derivation | Author’s heuristic: $750B of annual hyperscaler data-center capex ×2 for the assumed margin requirement = $1.5T lifetime end-customer revenue per capex-year. |
| Review | checking…review by 2027-07-08 · fast cadence |
| Recorded changes | last 2026-09-16 · 5 revisions tracked |
| Claim id | sequoia-s-annual-revenue-gap-to-justify-capex |
Where the guide uses it
← Full numbers register — every date-stamped figure in the guide, with revision history.