Whether the datacenters will end up profitable is a different question than whether they are a real risk for the business. This whole thing could be a massive mistake and all the big tech companies will come out the other end just fine. I think the executives at these companies realize that, this whole build out is a massive case of FOMO. No one wants to be microsoft missing the boat on mobile and theyre willing to flush money away to ensure that never happens.

Land tends to appreciate, but not so much the rotting box atop it

I bring this up not as a "well, ackshually" but because the datacenter analogy is more similar in that respect...except worse, because now it's a rotting box full of very expensive hardware that hasn't historically held a lot of value until this current shortage