Oracle, the Texas-based enterprise software and cloud company, saw its shares fall 19% this week, their worst weekly drop since 2001, as investors weighed its rising debt, heavy AI data-center spending, and negative free cash flow.

The balance sheet shifted faster.

In fiscal 2026, capital spending more than doubled from US$21.2 billion a year earlier to US$56 billion, while debt rose from US$92.6 billion on May 31, 2025, to US$130 billion on May 31, 2026.

Oracle said the cash burn reflected cloud infrastructure investment, much of it tied to OpenAI.

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank said in September 2025 that they were expanding Stargate with five new AI data-center sites in the US, after OpenAI and Oracle agreed in July 2025 to develop up to 4.5 gigawatts of additional capacity.

Oracle also pointed to contracted demand.

It said remaining performance obligations reached US$638 billion at the end of fiscal 2026, up 363% year on year, including US$75 billion tied to large AI contracts involving customer-prepaid or customer-supplied graphics processing units.

🔗 Source: CNBC