As corporate borrowing tied to artificial intelligence shows no sign of slowing, bankers are coming up with new ways to sell ever larger volumes of debt. Large technology companies, known as hyperscalers, are increasingly issuing bonds in currencies other than the U.S. dollar to tap a wider pool of investors and prevent saturation in the U.S. with colossal volumes of debt.

Record-Breaking Bond Sales

Companies such as Amazon.com and Alphabet have issued $60 billion in bonds in multiple currencies in the last 12 months. Amazon raised €14.5 billion ($16.56 billion) in March from an eight-part deal, the largest ever in the euro corporate bond market. Alphabet smashed records across markets, with its yen, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and sterling deals all setting borrowing records in those currencies.

The deals underscore the extent of funding needs facing hyperscalers. Capital expenditures for hyperscalers this year are estimated at around $725 billion, nearly double the level seen in mid-2025. Spending is rising faster than operating cash flow, analysts said, creating the need to access external funding sources.

Data Center Lease-Backed Deals Rise

Meanwhile, bankers are trying new things when raising funds for AI startups or data center operators, such as structuring deals around pre-arranged data center leases to provide more visibility on future cash flows. The latest example was an $810 million note issued by Stingray Compute, owned by Cipher Digital, earlier this month.

The lending was backed by the data center lease to Amazon. Bankers believe the volume of AI debt may be so large that it could push issuance in the investment-grade market above $2 trillion for the first time ever in 2026.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.