The AI financing boom has taken the global bond market by storm! The issuance scale reached 6.61 trillion US dollars during the year, making history. New high-tech giants became the main borrowers

The Zhitong Finance App learned that, driven by the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment, the scale of global bond issuance reached a record high. According to data, since this year, global financial institutions, enterprises and governments have raised a total of 6.61 trillion US dollars by issuing investment-grade and high-yield bonds, an increase of 15% over the previous year. With only two months until the end of the year, it has already surpassed the annual record set in 2025. Among them, cloud computing giants and data center developers have surged in the scale of financing, which is driving major changes in the borrower structure of the global bond market.

Data shows that since this year, cloud computing giants and data center developers have issued a total of nearly 368 billion US dollars in bonds, which is more than six times that of the same period last year. Such companies contributed about one-third of the increase in global bond financing this year. Not only did they surpass all other non-financial industries, but the scale of new financing was double the amount of new financing from government departments.

This change highlights that AI infrastructure construction is becoming an important driving force in the global bond market. As tech giants invest huge sums of money to expand data centers, procure chips, and deploy computing power, corporate financing needs are rapidly rising and competing for capital with governments that need to cover fiscal deficits.

Tech giants rewrite the global bond market pattern Amazon ranks as the fourth largest issuer in the world

The AI investment boom is reshaping the global bond market's longstanding financing authority dominated by governments and financial institutions. According to the data, Amazon (AMZN.US) has jumped to become the fourth largest issuer in the world this year, after Germany, the European Union, and Italy, and surpassed France and the United Kingdom. Among them, the issuance scale in Germany and Italy also includes bond financing from government support agencies.

Among corporate issuers, Amazon has become the world's largest bond financier, followed by Google's parent company Alphabet (GOOGL.US). Changes are also evident in the US market. Since this year, five of the top ten US corporate bond issuers have come from the technology industry. Meanwhile, the share of financial institutions that usually dominate corporate bond financing has dropped to its lowest level in at least ten years.

John Servidea, global co-head of J.P. Morgan's investment-grade financing business, said, “In just one year, the ranking of major issuers in the world's largest bond market has undergone a fundamental restructuring.” He pointed out that AI has become a new long-term trend driving changes in the bond market.

Behind this change is an unprecedented capital expenditure plan for technology companies. According to data tracked by Bloomberg Industry Research, a number of hyperscale cloud computing service providers and emerging cloud computing companies are expected to invest nearly 4.5 trillion US dollars over the next three years to build and expand AI infrastructure.

Such huge investment demand means that technology companies will increasingly rely on the bond market to obtain long-term capital, and the global capital market will also need to absorb the growing supply of financing.

Massive financing raises market concerns AI-related bond risk premiums rise

However, the tech giants' debt boom has not always been smooth sailing. Earlier this year, investors actively subscribed for bonds related to AI infrastructure construction. However, as large-scale bond issuance transactions sprung up one after another, the market began to experience a certain degree of pressure to absorb supply.

At the same time, investors' concerns about whether AI investment is excessive and when related technology will generate sufficient returns are also growing, prompting some investors to demand higher returns as risk compensation.

In the US, some data center developers provide investors with a yield of up to 7.2% on investment-grade bonds to obtain project financing, while the yield on high-yield bonds is as high as 10%.

Among them, CoreWeave (CRWV.US), which provides computing power services to technology companies such as Meta, has received market attention due to the continued increase in debt burdens. Earlier this month, speculative bonds issued by CoreWeave were clearly sold off, and their credit risk indicators rose sharply, triggering wider credit market shocks.

Market concerns about AI financing risks are also beginning to spread to technology companies with higher credit ratings. Hyperscale cloud computing service providers, including Meta Platforms (META.US) and Oracle (ORCL.US), have also seen significant increases in debt default insurance costs.

This shows that although investors are generally optimistic about the long-term development prospects of the AI industry, they have become more cautious about the continued increase in capital expenditure and debt size of related companies.

The high interest rate environment intensifies financing pressure, and global capital competition is intensifying

In addition to the surge in the supply of AI-related bonds, the overall global financing environment is also facing new challenges. Continued high oil prices, the escalation of geopolitical tension in the Middle East, and the sell-off of French sovereign bonds are putting pressure on global credit market sentiment.

Meanwhile, yields on some US Treasury bonds have recently risen to their highest level since 2002, further driving up corporate investment and debt refinancing costs.

As inflationary pressure continues, the world's major central banks are expected to maintain a tighter monetary policy stance as they enter 2027. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva (Kristalina Georgieva) called this month that central banks should continue to maintain prudent hawkish policy tendencies to prevent the risk of inflation.

Johanna Chua, head of economic research at Citigroup's Emerging Markets, said a few days ago that central banks are aware that the AI investment cycle is driving a structural rise in global capital demand and putting upward pressure on neutral interest rates.

If AI infrastructure construction continues to drive up global capital demand, long-term interest rates may face greater upward pressure, causing corporate and government financing costs to remain high for a long period of time.

Demand for AI investment remains strong Wall Street expects bond issuance activity to heat up again in November

Although the AI financing boom is putting short-term supply pressure on the bond market, some asset management agencies believe that the fundamentals of technology companies are still stable, and future capital expenditure demand is expected to continue to support bond issuance.

Neil Sun, portfolio manager at Royal Bank of Canada Global Asset Management, said that the financing needs of hyperscale cloud computing service providers have indeed caused some pressure to absorb short-term bond supply, but the overall outlook for AI capital spending is still strong.

Sun pointed out that from a fundamental point of view, these companies are still doing well, and the market demand for computing power remains strong. He anticipates that even if global interest rates remain high, the boom in AI infrastructure investment will continue until 2027.

Meanwhile, Wall Street anticipates that there is still room for further growth in bond issuance activity for the rest of the year.

Morgan Stanley predicts that against the backdrop of high fluctuations in bond issuance activity over the past two months, corporate financing demand may rise markedly again in November. Matteo Benedetto, co-head of the European, Middle Eastern and African investment-grade bond underwriting business at Morgan Stanley, said November is usually one of the busiest months of the year for issuing corporate bonds.

He pointed out that for companies that need to raise funds for mergers and acquisitions or capital expenditure and are unable to postpone financing plans, November is still an important window to lock in capital in advance.

Overall, AI infrastructure construction is driving the global bond market into a new financing cycle. Tech giants have not only become one of the most important borrowers in the corporate bond market, but their huge capital expenditure plans are also changing the global capital supply and demand pattern.

However, as the scale of bond issuance continues to expand, financing costs remain high, and investors increasingly scrutinize AI investment returns, whether the market can continue to absorb huge amounts of new debt in the future will become an important factor affecting the trend of the global credit market.