Global bond sales top 2025 record as AI borrowing surges

Global bond sales have reached an all-time high with two months of 2026 still left, largely because of heavy borrowing by the technology companies building out artificial intelligence. Financial firms, companies and governments have raised $6.61 trillion through investment-grade and junk-bond sales so far this year. That is up 15% from the same period a year earlier and already above 2025's full-year record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.bloomberg.com

Cloud giants and data-center developers alone have sold nearly $368 billion of debt this year. That is more than six times the amount from the same period last year and roughly one-third of the year's total increase, according to a summary of Bloomberg's reporting by WallStreetCN. Amazon Amazon.com, Inc. ↘ 1.41% is now the world's fourth-largest bond issuer, behind only Germany, the European Union and Italy, and ahead of France and the UK. Tech firms hold five of the top 10 spots among US corporate issuers. "A new long-term theme centered on AI has emerged," said John Servidea, co-head of global investment-grade financing at JPMorgan, according to the same summary.news.futunn.com

Alphabet's funding needs

Alphabet ↘ 1.45% shows how much money is involved. Its third-quarter release, published October 28, says it sold senior unsecured notes for net proceeds of $28.7 billion during the quarter. In June, it raised $49.6 billion by selling stock and mandatory convertible preferred shares. By FourWeekMBA's tally of its cash flow statement, Alphabet raised $147.2 billion from debt, common stock and preferred stock in the nine months to September 30. That included $85.2 billion of net debt proceeds, compared with $38.0 billion a year earlier.fourweekmba.com+2

The quarter also showed the strain. Third-quarter capital spending was $51.36 billion and free cash flow was negative $9.07 billion, CNBC reported. Long-term debt rose to $125.1 billion from $21.6 billion a year earlier. The company kept its 2026 capex forecast at $195 billion to $205 billion, finance chief Anat Ashkenazi said spending would "increase significantly" in 2027, and the shares fell more than 10%.cnbc.com

Signs of investor fatigue

The supply has become harder to absorb. As the large deals piled up, some investors started asking for higher yields, and investment-grade bonds from data-center developers now yield as much as 7.2%, WallStreetCN reported. Bonds of CoreWeave ↘ 9.66% sold off earlier this month over worries about its debt load, and the cost of default protection on Meta Platforms ↘ 1.53% and Oracle ↘ 6.37% has climbed. Johanna Chua of Citi said AI-driven demand for capital is putting upward pressure on the neutral interest rate.news.futunn.com

Bankers still expect more deals. Matteo Benedetto of Morgan Stanley called November "one of the busiest months of the year for corporate issuance," and Neil Sun of RBC Global Asset Management said demand for computing power "remains very strong."