Tech giants raise hundreds of billions in debt and equity for AI infrastructure
Companies including Alphabet, Amazon and Nvidia are tapping debt markets and equity sales to fund massive investments in artificial intelligence.
The world's largest technology companies are tapping debt markets and raising equity to fund massive investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, a shift for Silicon Valley firms that typically relied on cash.
Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta signalled in April that spending on AI would not slow down, with their combined spending now set to exceed US$730 billion this year.
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.
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Amazon.com is looking to raise at least US$25 billion from the U.S. bond market, Bloomberg News reported in July.
The tech giant filed for an eight-part offering of floating and fixed-rate notes, according to a regulatory filing, with maturities ranging from three to 40 years.
In June, the company disclosed it had issued $14 billion of Canadian dollar-denominated notes, a record for the Canadian corporate bond market.
Alphabet is looking to raise between US$20 billion and US$25 billion from its latest U.S. bond offering, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The offering comes two weeks after the Google parent raised its 2026 spending forecast and highlighted plans for increased AI-related investments.
In June, the company said it was looking to raise US$80 billion in equity offerings, including an investment from Berkshire Hathaway, later increasing the size to US$84.75 billion.
"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," the source said.
Nvidia in June said it would raise US$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.
SpaceX is looking to raise about US$10 billion in bank loans and US$30 billion in investment-grade debt to buy Nvidia chips, the Financial Times reported.
CEO Elon Musk said during SpaceX's August earnings call that the company would exclusively build on Nvidia going forward because "we think the Vera Rubin architecture is the best."
Cloud software provider Salesforce in March said it has priced a US$25 billion debt offering to help fund a major share buyback.
Oracle in February said it expects to raise US$45 billion to US$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.
Meta filed for its largest bond offering ever, of up to US$30 billion, in October last year to finance a costly AI infrastructure expansion.
Meta has been handling significant cost pressures from AI investments, boosting its capital spending plans by 73 per cent this year to offer personalized AI to its large social media user base.
Yadude Books reported in October that a new federal fund aims to attract billions in private capital to support Canadian innovation, as foreign investors dominate growth funding.
With files from BNN Bloomberg