Oct 26 (Reuters) - 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.
META PLATFORMS
The Instagram parent said in October that it plans to raise up to $95 billion through a $35 billion offering of common and convertible preferred stock and a at-the-market share sale program of up to $60 billion after its Class C shares begin trading in early 2027.
Earlier this month, the social media giant tightened its annual capital expenditure range to $135 billion to $145 billion, from between $130 billion and $145 billion.
Last year, Meta filed for its largest bond offering ever of up to $30 billion.
Particulars Value
Debt outstanding $84 billion
Cash and cash equivalents $11.22 billion
Next bond payment $2.66 billion due on August
15, 2027
SPACEX
Elon Musk's SpaceX said it has signed an agreement with Apollo Global Management under which an affiliate of the investment firm will buy AI chips and servers to lease them to SpaceX, with total principal payments of about $40 billion.
On Sunday, CEO Musk said on X that SpaceX had "closed" $40 billion in debt financing for graphics processing units.
Musk said the funding mainly targets chips arriving in the first and second quarters and would not be "a major factor this quarter."
Last week, the rocket firm's finance chief, Bret Johnsen, said the company still expects fourth-quarter capital expenditure of $35 billion to $40 billion.
Particulars Value
Debt outstanding $25.03 billion
Cash and cash equivalents $51.29 billion
Next bond payment $700 million due on
December 15, 2027
AMAZON
Amazon.com is looking to raise at least $25 billion from the US 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 $162.60 billion
Cash and cash equivalents $78.21 billion
Next bond payment $2 billion due on April 13,
2027
NVIDIA
Nvidia in June said it would raise $25 billion through a US 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 $32.50 billion
Cash and cash equivalents $22.44 billion
Next bond payment $1.25 billion due on June
15, 2028
SALESFORCE
Cloud software provider Salesforce 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 US 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 $8.31 billion
Next bond payment $3.50 billion due on March
15, 2028
ORACLE
Oracle 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 $36.37 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 US bond offering, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters in August. The company is offering notes in as many as 10 parts, a regulatory filing showed.
The offering came 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. 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 issued 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 US and 6.5 billion euros ($7.50 billion) in Europe, for general corporate purposes, including the payment of outstanding debt.
Particulars Value
Debt outstanding $126.12 billion
Cash and cash equivalents $55.91 billion
Next bond payment $1 billion due on August
15, 2027
VERIZON
The US carrier 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 $144.99 billion
Cash and cash equivalents $4.50 billion
Next bond payment $1.75 billion due on March
16, 2027
SOURCE: Data compiled by LSEG; SEC filings
($1 = 0.7424 pounds)
($1 = 0.8666 euros)
(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai, Zaheer Kachwala, Johann M Cherian, Harshita Mary Varghese and Prathik Jayaprakash in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo, Arun Koyyur, Anil D'Silva, Sahal Muhammed, Shilpi Majumdar, Jonathan Ananda and Shinjini Ganguli)