Tech giants turn to debt and equity for AI spending
The world's largest technology companies are tapping debt markets and raising equity to bolster AI infrastructure, marking a shift for Silicon Valley firms that typically relied on cash to fund their investments.
Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta signaled in April that spending on AI would not slow down. Tech giants' combined spending is now set to exceed $730 billion this year, up from about $700 billion previously.
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 in February.
Recent debt and equity moves by major technology companies
Amazon
Amazon.com is looking to raise at least $25 billion from the U.S. bond market, Bloomberg News reported in July, citing people familiar with the matter.
The tech giant filed for an eight-part offering of floating and fixed-rate notes, according to a regulatory filing. Amazon is issuing senior unsecured bonds, with maturities ranging from three to 40 years, as per a term sheet seen by Reuters.
In June, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it has issued C$14 billion of Canadian dollar-denominated notes, marking a record size for the Canadian corporate bond market.
It is also preparing to issue a six-part bond offering in Swiss franc denomination for the first time, a person familiar with the matter had told Reuters in May.
Separately, the e-commerce giant is looking to raise about $37 billion in an 11-part bond sale, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters in March.
Particulars
Value
Debt outstanding
$157.51 billion
Cash and cash equivalents
$78.21 billion
Next bond payment
$2 billion due on April 13, 2027
Nvidia
Nvidia NVDA.O in June said it would raise $25 billion through a U.S. bond issuance, as it taps the debt market to increase liquidity for the first time since 2021.
The bond consists of seven tranches of notes, maturing as late as 2056, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.
Particulars
Value
Debt outstanding
$33.50 billion
Cash and cash equivalents
$13.24 billion
Next bond payment
$1 billion due on September 16, 2026
Salesforce
Cloud software provider Salesforce CRM.N in March said it has priced a $25 billion debt offering to help fund a major share buyback. The company announced a $50 billion repurchase program and lifted its dividend by 5.8% in February.
The company had last issued U.S. bonds in 2021, securing $8 billion to support its acquisition of communication platform Slack.
Particulars
Value
Debt outstanding
$33.50 billion
Cash and cash equivalents
$8.94 billion
Next bond payment
$3.50 billion due on March 15, 2028
Oracle
Oracle ORCL.N in February said 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.
Particulars
Value
Debt outstanding
$120.50 billion
Cash and cash equivalents
$31.29 billion
Next bond payment
$2.25 billion due on April 1, 2027
Alphabet
Alphabet is looking to raise between $20 billion and $25 billion from its latest U.S. bond offering, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The company is offering notes in as many as 10 parts, a regulatory filing showed.
The offering comes two weeks after the Google parent raised its 2026 spending forecast and highlighted plans for increased AI-related investments amid growing investor scrutiny of returns on such spending.
In June, the company said it was looking to raise $80 billion in equity offerings, including an investment from Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N. It increased the size of its equity offerings to $84.75 billion after seeing strong investor demand.
The deal brings in Warren Buffett's diversified holding company as a major new investor, adding a high-profile endorsement of Alphabet's long-term AI and cloud strategy.
Alphabet also plans to sell Japanese yen-denominated bonds for the first time, it disclosed in a filing in May. The issuance is expected to total several hundred billion yen, a source with direct knowledge of the deal said.
The tech giant 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.
It had in November last year filed to raise $17.50 billion in debt in the U.S. and 6.5 billion euros ($7.50 billion) in Europe, for general corporate purposes, including the payment of outstanding debt.
Particulars
Value
Debt outstanding
$100.14 billion
Cash and cash equivalents
$55.91 billion
Next bond payment
$2 billion due on August 15, 2026
Verizon
The U.S. carrier VZ.N had in November last year 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.
Particulars
Value
Debt outstanding
$143.43 billion
Cash and cash equivalents
$1.75 billion
Next bond payment
$1.75 billion due on March 16, 2027
Meta Platforms
The Facebook owner META.O 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.
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