They're selling actual working hardware. But that hardware's value is significantly lower after 5 years, and almost zero after 10.
It will be time for all of us to prepare for a massive crash when forward markets pop up around AI hardware (think tulip mania). We're already seeing some serious red flags with businesses including their GPUs in their assets and taking loans on them.
How does any one of us survive a decade long recession? At an individual level, I don't think you can reliably do so. Ultimately people will have to relearn how to cooperate and come together and not be so damn greedy, not obsess about their standing in social media, and get back to the fundamentals.
The ones hit the hardest will be the luxury producers. I'm not talking about gold watches either. But online influences will suddenly find their payouts from YouTube and others have dried up when the marketing and advertising budgets are cut. Product reviewers won't be getting new products, because in a recession the best you can often do is just to keep making last year's products, and even so you might be cutting back in volume and completely removing the advertising budget.
The further we go down the wrong path, the bigger the correction. That's just how our economic system works, it's not centrally planned but it is manipulated by a few back actors for short-term profit. The consequence is the middle class watches their 401K get flushed down the drain.