February 13, 2026   |   Read Online

Dio Pouerie & Bo Nichols 

FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SEE WHAT BREAKS BEFORE IT BREAKS

SoftBank is layering debt onto its OpenAI exposure. Detroit is writing down EV overbuild. Nuclear funding is accelerating. Infrastructure capital is rotating toward durability. The common thread is duration being financed before economics are fully proven. 

THE SETUP

Markets look composed. AI demand is strong. Credit remains available. Infrastructure deals are clearing.

But capital is starting to bifurcate.

On one side, leverage is being layered onto concentrated AI exposure. On another, billions in EV capacity are being written down after policy and demand curves failed to clear. 

Meanwhile, infrastructure funds are doubling down on politically strategic power assets, and nuclear startups are raising capital at scales that assume inevitability.

This is not a growth scare.

It is a duration test.

Capital is still being deployed aggressively. The question is whether it is being deployed against durable cash flow or against assumptions about future inevitability.

When longevity gets financed before economics are proven, the unwind shows up in different places: write-downs, refinancing stress, margin calls, or consolidation.

PMD Lens

Private markets do not reprice when growth slows. They reprice when duration assumptions break.

Layered leverage against a single private AI exposure is a duration bet. EV overbuild was a duration bet. Early-stage nuclear infrastructure is a duration bet. 

Infrastructure continuation funds are a bet on cash flow that already exists.

The difference is not sector. It is whether cash flow is present and defensible today, or projected and reflexively financed tomorrow.

When permanence is funded before proof, leverage becomes the pressure point. When durability is anchored to contracted demand and political relevance, capital becomes patient.

WHAT MOST PEOPLE WILL MISS

• Leverage layered onto private AI exposure compounds valuation reflexivity 
• Physical asset write-downs are duration errors, not just demand misses 
• Infrastructure capital is consolidating around politically durable cash flow 
• Early-stage energy funding is scaling before cost curves are proven 
• The unwind of duration rarely hits revenue first. It hits capital structure

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SIGNALS IN MOTION

The signals below are not forecasts. They are mechanisms already in motion. Each one reveals the same pattern: duration is being financed before economics are fully proven.

Detroit Automakers Take $50 Billion Hit as EV Bubble Bursts

Detroit automakers are taking major write-downs following EV demand slowdown and policy retrenchment. This is duration misallocation in physical form.

Capacity was built under regulatory certainty and projected demand curves that did not clear. Subsidies faded. Pricing softened. Write-downs crystallized the gap between installed capacity and actual cash flow. 

This is not about EV ideology. It is about capital intensity meeting unstable assumptions. 

Physical assets cannot pivot as quickly as narratives do.

The lesson extends beyond automotive. Any sector building capacity ahead of proven demand faces the same test. 

When policy support becomes the primary underwriting assumption rather than market demand, duration risk enters the capital structure disguised as strategic positioning.

Investor Signal 

What looked like strategic positioning was duration risk. When policy support and demand momentum weakened, write-downs followed. Physical overbuild is the industrial version of financial overleverage.

Investment Firms Strike $3.4 Billion Deal for Peruvian Power Producer

A continuation fund structure is being deployed for strategic infrastructure. This is the counterpoint. Capital is not retreating. It is rotating toward assets with visible demand and geopolitical relevance.

Power generation in a strategically contested region carries real load, real cash flow, and political leverage. 

Continuation fund mechanics matter. Existing capital is choosing to extend duration where durability is defensible.

The deal structure itself signals confidence. When LPs allow GPs to roll positions into continuation vehicles rather than forcing exits, it reflects conviction that cash flows will remain stable and strategic value will compound. 

This is the opposite of reflexive financing. It is patient capital backing proven assets.

Investor Signal 

When narrative duration wobbles, capital migrates toward contracted infrastructure with political relevance. Durability, not acceleration, is attracting scale capital.

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Next-Gen Nuclear Funding Looks Livelier Than Ever

Large Series A raises and multibillion commitments are flowing into next-generation nuclear. The technology deserves serious treatment. But the sequencing risk is real.

Capital is underwriting infrastructure before commercial economics are proven at scale. Pilot projects require massive upfront investment. 

Public market receptivity remains open. This mirrors early EV and renewable buildout phases where capital scaled ahead of proof.

The parallels to earlier infrastructure buildouts are instructive. Solar and wind received similar early-stage enthusiasm. 

Capital flowed before cost curves proved out. Some bets paid off handsomely. Others did not. 

The difference came down to who controlled the proven economics versus who financed the promise.

Investor Signal 

Early capital does not guarantee economic inevitability. When infrastructure funding accelerates ahead of proven cost curves, duration risk accumulates quietly inside the capital stack.

DEEP DIVE

SoftBank Loads Up On Debt to Pay for OpenAI Bet

This is not a tech story. It is a capital structure story.

SoftBank is layering leverage onto a concentrated private AI exposure. Margin loans against Arm. Debt issuance that understates total leverage optics. 

Financial engineering layered on top of a valuation cycle that depends on continued strength in AI enthusiasm.

This creates reflexivity. Public equity strength supports borrowing capacity. Borrowing capacity supports continued exposure. Exposure reinforces narrative strength.

The risk is sequencing. If valuation momentum slows before liquidity opens, leverage remains while exit optionality narrows. 

Margin loans do not wait for long-term theses to play out. They operate on shorter timeframes than fundamental value realization.

The structural tension is clear: AI permanence is being financed with layered leverage before it has been tested across a full cycle. 

Valuation supports collateral. Collateral supports leverage. Leverage reinforces valuation.

When these dependencies stack, small moves get amplified. A modest valuation reset becomes a liquidity event. 

A liquidity event becomes a forced unwind. The system works beautifully in one direction. It compounds quickly in the other.

No headlines announce that underwriting standards are tightening. But deal structures change. Exit timelines extend. 

Covenant packages get more defensive. The market is not panicking. It is simply demanding more proof before committing to longer holding periods.

Investor Signal 

The mispriced risk is capital structure reflexivity. Layered leverage tied to a single private AI asset magnifies duration exposure. If valuation resets before monetization, liquidity pressure arrives before fundamentals resolve.

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THE PLAYBOOK

• Stress test duration assumptions before underwriting growth narratives 
• Separate durable cash flow from projected inevitability 
• Model leverage outcomes under delayed liquidity, not just continued expansion 
• Treat policy-anchored demand curves as reversible inputs 
• Prioritize assets with contracted demand and geopolitical relevance 
• Be skeptical of infrastructure capital stacks that scale ahead of proven economics 
• Assume valuation momentum can reverse faster than leverage can unwind

THE PMD REPOSITION

Private markets are not retreating from risk. They are dividing between financed permanence and funded durability.

SoftBank shows financial duration being levered. Detroit shows physical duration being written down. Peru shows capital consolidating around strategic cash flow. Nuclear shows early-cycle infrastructure scaling before proof.

The question is not whether growth continues.

It is whether your exposure depends on narrative duration or on enforceable cash flow.

In this phase, duration is the spread.

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