SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 10 (Yonhap/Reuters) – Alphabet, the parent of Google, is returning to global debt markets with a new $15 billion U.S. dollar bond offering, part of a broader multi-currency funding drive to bankroll up to $185 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure spending this year.
The latest sale comes just three months after Alphabet raised $17.5 billion in the U.S. and €6.5 billion in Europe, underscoring how Big Tech is leaning on bond markets to finance an unprecedented wave of data centre, chip and networking investment.
The new dollar deal will be split into seven tranches with varying maturities, according to people familiar with the transaction cited by Bloomberg and the Financial Times. The longest slice, a 40-year bond maturing in 2066, is being discussed at about 120 basis points over comparable U.S. Treasuries, the people said.
Alphabet is also preparing sterling- and Swiss franc‑denominated issues, though target sizes have not yet been disclosed. In the UK market, the company is considering an ultra‑long 100‑year bond, an instrument more commonly associated with sovereigns and quasi‑sovereigns during eras of ultra‑low rates than with high‑growth technology firms.
In Britain, century bonds have previously been sold by Oxford University, French utility EDF and the Wellcome Trust. Among technology groups, IBM sold a 100‑year dollar bond in 1996, one of the few precedents for such long‑dated corporate tech debt.
The move highlights how Alphabet is racing to secure long‑term, fixed‑rate funding as it ramps up capital expenditure on AI. In its latest earnings report, the company guided that capex could reach as much as $185 billion this year, driven by spending on data centres, advanced chips and related infrastructure.
Alphabet, together with other so‑called hyperscalers including Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle, raised about $165 billion in 2025 via bonds and other borrowing to fund what has been dubbed “debt‑fuelled” AI investment.
Oracle alone tapped bond markets for an additional $25 billion this month. Morgan Stanley now forecasts that hyperscalers’ borrowing will climb to around $400 billion (about 585 trillion won) this year, helping push total global investment‑grade bond issuance to a record $2.25 trillion.
While the largest platforms can issue long‑dated, investment‑grade bonds at relatively tight spreads, smaller AI players are turning to more complex private financing structures to secure access to scarce computing resources.
Elon Musk’s AI venture xAI, now a subsidiary of SpaceX, is in final talks to raise $3.4 billion (about 5 trillion won) in private debt from Apollo Global Management, according to IT outlet The Information, which cited people familiar with the matter.
Under the proposed structure, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) would borrow from Apollo to purchase Nvidia chips and then lease them to xAI. The arrangement allows xAI to obtain critical GPU capacity without issuing public bonds, which is difficult for a startup lacking an established credit rating.
The structure is also seen as a way to ring‑fence leverage and manage balance‑sheet risk ahead of a potential initial public offering of SpaceX, xAI’s parent company.
The dual track of public bond issuance by established hyperscalers and private, asset‑backed financing by newer entrants underscores how the scramble for AI computing power is reshaping global credit markets, extending maturities and driving up overall corporate borrowing.
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