Tech companies are on a wild debt binge to fuel their AI ambitions. It could mean trouble for markets.

• Corporate borrowing has soared to record highs this year.

• Some worry that the debt binge powering the AI ambitions of Big Tech could spell trouble.

• Investors have flocked to recent bond sales, but more borrowing poses risks to markets and the economy, sources say.

Big Tech firms have led a frenzy of corporate borrowers tapping the bond markets for cash this year, and the trend is catching the eye of Wall Street observers.

While commentators have been nervously eyeing huge AI capex all year, it’s not simply how much firms are spending, but how much they’re borrowing. A handful of strategists recently have said that the mountain of debt financing among large tech companies is a growing concern for investors.

Big Tech companies have raised enormous amounts through bond sales in 2025 amid endless investor appetite for AI. The sprint to raise money in the debt markets has come as borrowing conditions improve, with interest rates easing around the world and the economic cycle still supportive for businesses.

According to data from Bloomberg, global bond sales this year have reached about $6 trillion, an all-time high that eclipses the full-year 2024 total, which was also an annual record. Just a handful of firms are responsible for a large amount of that borrowing.

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle have issued around $100 billion of bonds year-to-date, according to a recent Bank of America analysis, more than double the amount the same firms raised in the bond market last year.

That trend is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, particularly as hyperscalers signal their growing commitment to spending on AI.

Here are some of the latest bond market moves by tech giants:

• Amazon is poised to raise $15 billion in a hugely oversubscribed bond sale, according to Bloomberg. The company had set out to raise $12 billion but boosted the offering after receiving $80 billion of orders from investors. The proceeds will be used for everything from capex to share buybacks.

• Oracle is reportedly looking to sell $38 billion in bonds to help fund the buildout of its AI infrastructure, Bloomberg reported in October.

• Meta raised $30 billion in bond sales in late October, the largest corporate bond offering of the year.

Wall Street hasn’t bristled much at the idea of AI spending fueled by free cash flow, but debt-powered capex is a growing concern, strategists at HSBC Global Research wrote in a client note on Monday.

The bank tied its worries about the borrowing boom to signs of credit distress, such as the bankruptcies of Tricolor Holdings and First Brands, as well as steep losses regional banks reported on bad loans last month.

“Following concerns around Tricolor, First Brands, Zions Bancorp and business development companies, debt issuance by tech companies and Oracle in particular is now the new ‘canary in the coalmine’,” HSBC strategists said.

The amount of debt large tech firms are raising could pose a risk to the broader economy if the stock market sees a correction, Neil Shearing, the group chief economist at Capital Economics, said.

“If most is financed from free cash flow, the fallout from any correction would be contained. But the growing use of debt and special purpose vehicles to back AI projects is a risk worth watching,” he wrote in a note to clients on Monday. “Excess leverage has a habit of turning sectoral bubbles into systemic problems, with spillovers to the real economy.”

Still, borrowing in the sector remains low and the risks currently look “manageable,” he added.

The average credit spread on US investment-grade corporate bonds has started to widen, researchers at Janus Henderson wrote in a recent report.

Credit spreads widen when investors are starting to demand a slightly higher premium for holding corporate debt over a risk-free rate. In this case, that’s likely being driven by the growing supply of debt issued by big tech firms, the firm added.

“The recent deluge of supply — particularly from tech — may have changed the game,” the firm said of tech borrowing and slighter wider spreads. “Credit investors will also likely demand extra compensation until there is clarity around the defined ‘winners’ of this supercycle,” they added.

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