Amazon's Record $53.7 Billion Bond Sale Signals Big Tech's Massive Bet on AI Infrastructure

How Big Tech's AI Ambitions Are Fueling a Borrowing Boom

For the past few years, the largest US technology companies have been in a costly race to develop advanced artificial intelligence systems while at the same time providing computing power to a burgeoning field of startups. To chase these goals, they have radically changed how they finance their growth. Long reliant on rich revenues and share price increases, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and other tech giants now are borrowing heavily to build the technology that makes chatbots run. In early March, Amazon.com Inc. sold bonds in Europe for the first time, raising €14.5 billion ($16.7 billion), the biggest ever corporate deal in the currency. The retail giant also borrowed $37 billion in the US bond market, in the fourth-largest US corporate bond sale on record. Four of the biggest US tech companies have said that just this year, they need to spend around $650 billion collectively on data centers, networking equipment and other AI infrastructure needed to achieve their AI ambitions. Here's how the reliance on borrowing is changing the tech industry and fueling the AI boom. How has the growth of AI changed tech companies' financial practices? For many years, tech companies that emerged from the internet boom grew by reinvesting their immense profits back into their businesses. They also sold bonds, but that played a smaller role in raising and spending capital. But beginning in late 2025, big tech firms began issuing tens of billions of dollars in debt as they scrambled to ramp up investing in AI capacity. New businesses such as OpenAI and Anthropic, meanwhile, have each raised billions of dollars in funding from venture capital investors. How are tech companies planning to spend the money? Most of the money these tech companies are deploying -- be it through debt or equity -- is being invested in AI-related equipment, services and real estate. Alphabet alone said that about 40% of its technical infrastructure spending was tied to data centers and networking gear, while 60% was tied to servers. Oracle Corp. is a prime example of the data center expense. The database giant has been raising both corporate debt and loans for specific projects to finance the development of data centers across the country. It's not just real estate, however. These firms also need to stock the facilities with expensive chips to train and run AI models. Often, companies create special purpose vehicles -- essentially, separate businesses launched for specific financial goals including acquiring tech gear. With an SPV, the debt is kept off the company's balance sheet, protecting the business from potential downgrades. Since late 2025, Elon Musk's xAI has been working on raising as much as $20 billion via off-balance-sheet vehicles that buy chips and lease them back to xAI. Two other expenses compound the race to be first: power costs and AI talent. Alphabet recently purchased a clean energy developer to power its data centers as the US electricity grid struggles to meet the projects' demands. Meta also has been spending millions of dollars to hire skilled engineers. Why are companies borrowing instead of using cash or issuing shares? The pressure on big tech companies to build out data centers to power AI functions is immense. Meta, Alphabet and the other tech heavyweights can use the existing cash in their coffers for their data center buildouts. Their advertising businesses give them enough cash that they can borrow comfortably and also reinvest some of that revenue into AI. Google, for instance, took in more than $97 billion in revenue, excluding partner payouts, in the fourth quarter of 2025. But borrowing can still be attractive, especially at a time when Wall Street firms are eager to lend them money. The special-purpose entities that enable companies to keep debt off their balance sheets add to the appeal. Borrowing heavily isn't always an option for AI startups, which typically have far less revenue. Instead, privately held firms such as OpenAI and xAI have raised billions of dollars by selling stakes in their companies and using that cash for their AI needs. But they can only do that so many times, as equity holders see their stakes get increasingly diluted. In 2025 xAI borrowed $5 billion in corporate debt, which the startup has since repaid. OpenAI and Anthropic haven't tapped the debt capital markets yet and are looking at other ways of raising money. How unusual is this level of borrowing -- and what's different about this moment? The wave of AI-related borrowing spooked investors late last year, when large technology companies raised nearly $100 billion within a few weeks to expand cloud and data-center capacity. The surge came on the heels of a roughly $30 billion financing tied to the construction of a Meta data center in Louisiana, a transaction that underscored both the scale of capital required for AI infrastructure and the increasingly varied ways companies are structuring the funding. That deal was raised by a special purpose vehicle from Meta but will pay back lenders through a long-term lease with the tech giant. The structure showed how data center operators can issue traditional bonds while also raising large sums from lenders without adding too much debt to their balance sheets and jeopardizing their credit ratings. Underscoring the thirst for capital, Alphabet recently sold a rare 100-year bond, a type of deal that no tech company had done since the late 1990s and that tapped demand from long-term investors such as insurance and pension funds. The AI borrowing wave also stands out for its speed, size and for the type of borrowers involved. Surges in corporate debt have historically been associated with speculative bubbles, such as during the 1980s leveraged buyout boom, when high-risk bonds were issued to finance a wave of aggressive corporate acquisitions. By contrast, the recent issuance has come from some of the most cash-rich and highly rated companies in the world. How does taking on this much debt change the risk profile of these companies? Tens of billions of dollars have been raised in compressed time frames, and the AI buildout is proceeding despite elevated interest rates, reflecting the competitive urgency of generative AI. Some market participants have drawn parallels to earlier infrastructure booms, such as the fiber-optic buildout during the dot-com era, when telecom companies borrowed heavily to lay network capacity. But there are key differences. Today's largest issuers are far more profitable and diversified than many telecom operators were in the late 1990s. Despite the recent surge, debt financing is projected to remain a relatively small share of total AI spending by large technology companies. Analysts have estimated that approximately 80%-90% of their planned capital expenditures are expected to be funded through operating cash flows. And despite the recent uptick in borrowing, major data center operators are anticipated to maintain low levels of total debt compared with their annual earnings. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Get the Tech Newsletter bundle. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg's subscriber-only tech newsletters, and full access to all the articles they feature. Bloomberg may send me offers and promotions. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Still, the sheer magnitude of the financing has implications. Higher borrowing could alter companies' financial profiles, influencing their credit ratings and their ability to borrow cheaply. Beyond the tech sector, heavy debt issuance also might reshape credit markets by absorbing investor demand that otherwise might have flowed to other industries. This could raise borrowing costs for other companies, too, while increasing lenders' exposure to an industry whose long-term returns on AI investments are still being proven. Morgan Stanley in 2025 forecast that issuance of investment-grade corporate bonds in 2026 could top $2 trillion, a record, driven in part by artificial intelligence investments. Markets for high-grade bonds could need to absorb about $1.5 trillion in AI data center bond issuance over the next five years, JPMorgan analysts estimated last year. By 2030, that debt could account for more than 20% of the investment-grade bond market, they said. What could go wrong if the AI boom doesn't meet expectations? If the AI boom doesn't live up to expectations, big tech companies that have been spending heavily on data centers, chips and power to support AI could end up with too much capacity and equipment that becomes outdated quickly. That would be similar to what happened during the dot-com bubble, when telecom firms built more network capacity than customers needed. Lower-than-expected profits would squeeze companies' cash flows, potentially forcing businesses to cut investments or borrow more, eventually weakening their financial profiles. There are also broader market risks. Investors have poured money into tech debt and shares, betting on AI-driven growth. If that optimism fades, stock prices could fall and lenders would take a big hit.

Amazon targeting $37 billion to $42 billion in bond sale, Bloomberg News reports

March 10 (Reuters) - Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab is targeting about $37 billion to $42 billion in its latest bond sale, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The reported figure would mark one of the latest corporate bond offerings as the company looks to fund its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure build out. The company is offering bonds denominated in both dollars and euros, Bloomberg News reported. The Amazon Web Services parent is marketing U.S. high-grade bonds in as many as 11 tranches, according to ⁠a regulatory filing with the SEC. Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The company's deal is the latest in a string of massive bond issuances by hyperscalers, as they prepare to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Investor appetite for high-grade corporate debt has remained strong, with large technology issuers drawing significant attention as investors seek relatively safe yields. Bond markets have been receptive to jumbo offerings this year, particularly from cash-rich hyperscalers ⁠looking to fund their long-term AI and cloud infrastructure ambitions. Analysts say the strong credit profiles of such technology firms and their central role in the AI buildout have helped sustain investor demand for their debt. In February, Google-parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab raised about $32 billion in ⁠the U.S. and European high-grade bond markets, including a rare 100-year bond, the tech industry's first since Motorola's (MSI.N), opens new tab issuance that dates back to 1997, according to LSEG data. Meanwhile, Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab ⁠said last month that it expects to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 using a combination of debt and stock sales to build additional capacity ⁠for its cloud infrastructure. Amazon last tapped the market in November, with a dollar-denominated bond issue worth about $15 billion, which was its first U.S. bond sale in three years. Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Amazon Starts Record Eight-Part Euro Bond Sale to Fund AI Goals

Amazon.com Inc. is making its debut in the euro bond market with a record eight-part sale, aiming to raise around €12.5 billion ($14.5 billion) as Big Tech firms pour money into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The tech giant's offeringBloomberg Terminal has maturities ranging from two to 38 years, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified. So far, investors have placed more than €35.5 billion of orders, marking a record for a corporate debt sale in the currency. The level could change as the deal progresses. The euro deal -- which has swelled from the €10 billion size expected by the market on Tuesday -- follows an 11-part dollar sale which raised $37 billion. Utilizing two currencies and a range of tenors for the deal means that Amazon can tap into various investor bases and spread out its refinancing risk. It's the latest in a series of jumbo deals by cloud-computing companies as they invest heavily in AI. Amazon -- along with Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. -- have forecast capital expenditures of about $650 billion in 2026. "Amazon is a household name, but investors might ask why are they issuing so much, given historically they are cash rich," said Saida Eggerstedt, head of sustainable credit at Schroders Investment Management. "We expect the euro bonds will price wider than the dollar bonds after hedges in the longer tranches." The US portion of the deal drew about $126 billion of orders, one of the largest books ever for a corporate offering, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The offering was increased from an initial size range of between $25 billion to $30 billion. In Europe, the deal is also the first ever eight-part sale in the region, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The previous record for the number of tranches in Europe was a seven-part saleBloomberg Terminal by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE in 2020 to finance its acquisition of Tiffany & Co. Credit Risk Gauges Bond sales restarted at a brisk pace globally on Tuesday after being stifled by surging credit risk in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East. Credit risk gauges pulled back after comments from US President Donald Trump sparked optimism that the war with Iran will end soon. The risk-on mood was tempered on Wednesday as oil prices jumped again and after JPMorgan Chase & Co. was said to be restricting some lending to private credit funds. "A lot of the moves we have seen have been rates reacting to energy prices. Spreads themselves have been very resilient," said Jack Daley, portfolio manager at TwentyFour Asset Management. "For well-known, higher quality names, they will be able to come to the market and see strong demand." Read: Amazon Deal Drives US Corporate Bond Sales to One-Day Record Amazon's deal comes a month after it said it would invest about $200 billion in data centers, chips and other equipment in 2026, topping analysts' estimates and causing some concerns among equity investors about when huge spending on AI would start to pay off. Index Heavyweights In the credit market, however, there's huge appetite for hyperscaler deals. Alphabet raised roughly $32 billion in the US and European high-grade bond markets last month, drawing high demand throughout, and especially for an ultra-rare 100-year sterling note. These large offerings are elevating US tech firms to prominent positions in European credit indexes overnight. A €10 billion deal by Amazon would instantly bring it within reach of the top-10% non-financial issuers in the entire euro-denominated credit market, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. Alphabet's recent deal propelled it to take the spot as the third-largest issuer in the sterling high-grade index, trailing only HSBC Holdings Plc and Barclays Plc, and the fourth-largest in Swiss francs behind stalwarts Nestle SA, Roche Holdings Inc and Novartis AG. This has raised some concerns about the impact on passive corporate bond funds -- whether the sector experiences difficulties down the line or not. JPMorgan is acting as global coordinator for Amazon's offering and is one of the bookrunners along with Barclays Plc, Bank of America Corp., and Societe Generale SA. The sale is expected to price later today.

Amazon Looks to Raise at Least $37 Billion Through Bond Sale

Amazon's sale is the latest in a series of jumbo note offerings by hyperscalers as they plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Amazon.com Inc. has kicked off what is likely to be one of the biggest corporate bond offerings ever, in the latest blockbuster fundraising to pay for the artificial intelligence boom. The tech giant is targeting the equivalent of about $37 billion to $42 billion in a cross-Atlantic offering in dollars and euros, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm is marketing US high-grade debtBloomberg Terminal in as many as 11 tranches, ranging from two to 50 years, and it seeks to raise $25 billion to $30 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because discussions are private. Initial price discussions for the longest portion of that offering -- a note maturing in 2076 -- involve a yield of about 1.55 percentage points more than Treasuries, one of the people said. Amazon also targets raisingBloomberg Terminal as much as €10 billion ($11.6 billion) from a potential eight-part debut euro bond sale with maturities of two to 38 years slated for as early as Wednesday. It would be the most tranches sold by a company in the region. Representatives for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co.. and Citigroup Inc., among the banks managing Amazon's dollar-bond offering, declined to comment. HSBC Holdings Plc, which is also on the deal, didn't immediately respond to a comment request. In a reply, Amazon pointed to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday for the deal. Bond sales have restarted globally after US President Donald Trump hinted that the war with Iran will end soon. At least €26.9 billion of bonds are set price in Europe on Tuesday, making it the busiest day since the conflict in the Middle East started over a week ago. Debt capital markets globally slowed sharplyBloomberg Terminal to start March. "Elevated volatility is slamming the issuance window shut, and with potentially record one‑day supply, dealers are hypersensitive to every tick in broader risk," said Mark Clegg, a senior fixed-income trader at Allspring Global Investments. "Week by week becomes hour by hour." Amazon's strong credit profile means its debt sale can't be seen as representative of broader credit-market demand as geopolitical uncertainty continues to be the main factor weighing on markets, said Slawomir Soroczynski, head of fixed income at Crown Agents Investment Management. The sale is the latest in a series of jumbo note offerings by hyperscalers as they plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Alphabet Inc. raised roughly $32 billion in the US and European high-grade bond markets last month while Oracle Corp. priced $25 billion of dollar notes. Amazon's prior US issuance was in November, when it sold $15 billion of bonds. Potentially selling 19 different notes in two currencies "hit on the notion that these hyperscalers need to tap every investor base across tenors and currencies it can to finance the immense amount of spending planned for this year and going forward," said Zachary Griffiths, head of investment-grade and macro strategy at CreditSights. Amazon's latest offering comes at a time when equity investors have grown more worried that the company's massive spending in AI may not pay off. The firm last month said it would invest about $200 billion in data centers, chips and other equipment in 2026, topping analysts' estimates. The company -- along with Alphabet, Meta Platforms Inc., Oracle and Microsoft Corp. -- have forecast capital expenditures of about $650 billion in 2026. In contrast, 21 companies including the largest US-based automakers, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Walmart Inc. are projected to spend a combined $180 billion, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg in February. Amazon's sale is among 11Bloomberg Terminal in the US investment-grade market on Tuesday. "We expect that borrowers with financing needs will keep monitoring the market closely and look to take advantage of periods of relative stability," said Kyle Stegemeyer, head of investment-grade debt capital markets and syndicate at U.S. Bank, "especially given the healthy credit backdrop and the continued strong bid for high‑quality assets." Investors have placed orders 4.1 times the size of this year's US investment-grade deals, according to dataBloomberg Terminal compiled by Bloomberg.

Amazon targeting $37 billion to $42 billion in bond sale: Report

Amazon is planning a massive bond sale, aiming for $37 billion to $42 billion. This significant fundraising effort is to support its extensive investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company is offering bonds in both dollars and euros. This move follows similar large bond issuances by other major tech companies. Investors are showing strong interest in these high-grade corporate debts. Amazon.com is targeting about $37 billion to $42 billion in its latest bond sale, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The reported figure would mark one of the latest corporate bond offerings as the company looks to fund its spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure build out. The company is offering ⁠bonds denominated ⁠in both dollars and euros, Bloomberg News reported. The Amazon Web Services parent is marketing US high-grade bonds in as many as 11 tranches, according to a regulatory filing with the SEC. Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The company's deal is the latest in a string of massive bond issuances by hyperscalers, as ⁠they prepare to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Investor appetite for high-grade corporate debt has remained strong, ⁠with large technology issuers drawing significant attention as investors seek relatively safe yields. Bond markets have been receptive to jumbo offerings this year, particularly from cash-rich hyperscalers looking to fund their long-term AI and cloud infrastructure ambitions. Analysts say the strong credit profiles of such technology firms and their central role in the AI buildout have helped sustain investor demand for their debt. In February, Google-parent Alphabet raised about $32 billion in the U.S. and European high-grade bond markets, including a rare 100-year bond, the tech industry's ⁠first since Motorola's issuance that dates back to 1997, according to LSEG data. Meanwhile, Oracle said last month that it expects to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 using a combination of debt and stock sales to build additional capacity for its cloud infrastructure. Amazon last tapped the market in November, with a dollar-denominated bond issue worth about $15 billion, which was its first US bond sale in three years.

Amazon Wants To Raise $42 Billion Via Bond Sale To Fuel Massive AI Spending Spree: Report - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon Targets Up To $42 Billion In Bond Sale The wants to raise about $37 billion to $42 billion through a bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Amazon is marketing U.S. high-grade bonds in as many as 11 tranches, with maturities ranging from 2 to 50 years, and aims to raise $25 billion to $30 billion, the bloomberg report said. The company is also aiming to raise up to 10 billion euros through a potential eight-part debut euro bond sale with maturities ranging from two to 38 years. The euro bond market has not previously seen an eight-tranche offering. According to the Bloomberg report, HSBC Holdings Plc, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are managing the dollar bond sale. Global Markets Stabilize As Geopolitical Tensions Ease The report said that bond issuance has resumed globally after credit risk measures declined following comments from U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting the war with Iran may end soon. Trump said Monday in a phone interview with CBS News that the U.S. campaign against Iran may be nearing its conclusion, adding that Tehran's military capabilities have been significantly weakened. Last week, Amazon said drone strikes recently hit some of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, raising concerns about the pace of technology infrastructure development in the region. AI Spending Wave Fuels Record Fundraising Amazon last issued bonds in November, raising $15 billion in dollar-denominated debt. JPMorgan warned that Amazon may still require additional liquidity despite holding about $84 billion in cash and marketable securities and carrying $58 billion in debt. The bank said Amazon's spending on AI and data centers could rise to around $150 billion by fiscal 2026, potentially exceeding its current cash reserves. Bloomberg reported that investor demand for the offering reached about $80 billion at its peak, citing people familiar with the matter. AMZN Price Action: Amazon.com shares were up 0.83% at $215.27 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Tech companies tap debt markets to fund AI and cloud expansion

March 10 (Reuters) - The world's largest technology companies are tapping debt markets, as they seek to bolster their artificial intelligence infrastructure, marking a shift for Silicon Valley firms that typically relied on cash to fund their investments. Big Tech is expected to splurge more than $600 billion on AI in 2026, a sharp increase from $410 billion in 2025 amid mounting fears of an AI bubble. The AI boom has entered a "more dangerous phase", marked by exponentially rising investments in physical infrastructure and growing reliance on outside capital, according to an analysis by Bridgewater Associates last month. AMAZON Amazon.com is looking to raise about $37 billion in an 11-part bond sale, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Tuesday, as it looks to fund its spending on AI infrastructure buildout. The offering attracted about $126 billion of peak demand for bonds in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the matter. In November last year, Amazon said it plans to raise $15 billion through its first U.S. dollar bond sale in three years. The six-part offering drew $80 billion in demand, according to Bloomberg News. Cloud software provider Salesforce is preparing to raise as much as $25 billion in a debt offering to help fund a major share buyback, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Oracle said in February it expects to raise $45 billion to $50 billion in 2026 in a combination of debt and stock to build additional capacity for its cloud infrastructure. The cloud company was sued in January by bondholders who said they suffered losses because the company failed to disclose it needed to sell significant additional debt to build out its AI infrastructure. In September 2025, the company, chaired by Larry Ellison, filed to raise about $18 billion in debt in a six-part offering to fund AI infrastructure, after investing billions in 2025. Google-parent Alphabet sold a rare, 100-year bond worth 1 billion pounds ($1.35 billion) in February, as part of a global $31.51 billion debt raise. The company sold 5.5 billion pounds worth of sterling bonds in a five-part deal, according to the final term sheet seen by Reuters. The company had in November last year filed to raise $17.50 billion in debt in the U.S. and 6.5 billion euros ($7.58 billion) in Europe, for general corporate purposes, including the payment of outstanding debt. The U.S. carrier had in November filed to raise about $11 billion in the corporate bond market to help fund its $20 billion acquisition of fiber-optic internet provider Frontier Communications, which it closed in January. The Facebook owner had in October last year filed for its largest bond offering ever, of up to $30 billion, to finance a costly AI infrastructure expansion. Meta has been navigating significant cost pressures from AI investments, boosting its capital spending plans by 73% this year to offer personalized AI to its large social media user base. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai, Zaheer Kachwala and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Arun Koyyur)