Via investopedia.com
The biggest names in tech are borrowing at yields that would make their CFOs from five years ago deeply uncomfortable
Hyperscalers, the group that includes Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle, issued roughly $121 billion in new debt in 2025. In 2026, they’ve already blown past that figure, with year-to-date issuance exceeding $170 billion. For context, the pre-AI annual average for these five companies was around $35 billion. The borrowing has roughly quintupled.
The yield tells the story #
BlackRock sold a $12.5 billion bond in July 2026 carrying a yield of 7.53%. That deal financed a data center in Texas linked to Meta. A yield north of 7% on a bond connected to two of the most prominent names in finance and tech is not your typical investment-grade territory.
Then there’s Oracle, whose bonds are rated Baa2/BBB, technically investment-grade by the narrowest of margins. In the secondary market, though, those bonds are trading at spreads more commonly associated with junk-rated issuers.
Why the borrowing binge #
Global AI-related debt issuance is projected to reach approximately $570 billion by the end of 2026. As recently as May 31, 2026, that figure stood at around $236 billion. The acceleration in the back half of the year has been dramatic.
Investor appetite is cooling, not collapsing #
There are signs that the market’s enthusiasm for AI-linked bonds is moderating. Oversubscription ratios have declined on recent deals. That BlackRock bond attracted less frenzied demand than earlier AI-related issuances.
The emergence of new trading products specifically designed for AI-related debt suggests the market views this as a durable category, not a temporary phenomenon.
For the broader credit market, nearly $570 billion in AI-related debt by year-end would represent a meaningful share of total global corporate issuance, potentially crowding out borrowers in other sectors or pushing yields higher across the board as investors demand more compensation for the sheer volume of paper being absorbed. Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our