Big Tech taps debt markets to finance AI push

Major US tech firms are tapping debt markets to fund AI and cloud infrastructure, marking a shift from their usual reliance on cash as they ramp spending into 2026.

Big Tech is expected to spend more than US$600 billion on AI in 2026, up from US$410 billion in 2025.

An analysis by Bridgewater Associates said the boom has entered a “more dangerous phase” marked by growing reliance on outside capital.

Amazon is seeking about US$37 billion in an 11-part bond sale to fund AI infrastructure and the offering attracted about US$126 billion of peak demand.

Salesforce is preparing to raise up to US$25 billion in debt, while Oracle expects to raise US$45 to US$50 billion in 2026 through debt and stock to expand cloud capacity.

Meta filed for up to US$30 billion in bonds to finance AI infrastructure, and Alphabet sold a rare 100-year bond as part of a US$31.5 billion debt raise.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Reported debt is only part of the story

The top five U.S. hyperscalers (the biggest cloud service providers that run enormous data centers) carry US$662 billion in future data center lease commitments that have not yet started and do not sit on their balance sheets 1.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) usually keep lease liabilities off the books until a lease begins. Renewal periods count only when a company views renewal as “reasonably certain” 1.
Meta disclosed a US$28 billion residual value guarantee tied to certain data center leases. It stays unrecorded because Meta judged payouts “not probable” 1.
Public debt totals miss a wider stack of AI build-out obligations, including lease-related commitments that sit off the balance sheet 1.

The AI debt binge is reshaping the entire bond market

Heavy borrowing is changing how investors read hyperscalers’ once cash-heavy balance sheets, as AI capex (capital spending) moves into credit markets 2.
More fundraising adds to bond supply and raises scrutiny of whether AI spend turns into revenue and profit 2.
Debt funding also upends an “unspoken contract” with credit investors. Earlier, shareholders carried more of the AI spending risk 2.
Lenders now take on technology risk, including data centers that could age quickly as chips and AI infrastructure improve 2.