Blue-chip companies enlist junk bond investors to raise billions for AI projects

Hyperscalers, the group that includes Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle, issued roughly $121 billion in new debt in 2025. In 2026, they’ve already blown past that figure, with year-to-date issuance exceeding $170 billion. For context, the pre-AI annual average for these five companies was around $35 billion. The borrowing has roughly quintupled. The yield tells the story BlackRock sold a $12.5 billion bond in July 2026 carrying a yield of 7.53%. That deal financed a data center in Texas linked to Meta. A yield north of 7% on a bond connected to two of the most prominent names in finance and tech is not your typical investment-grade territory. Then there’s Oracle, whose bonds are rated Baa2/BBB, technically investment-grade by the narrowest of margins. In the secondary market, though, those bonds are trading at spreads more commonly associated with junk-rated issuers. Why the borrowing binge Global AI-related debt issuance is projected to reach approximately $570 billion by the end of 2026. As recently as May 31, 2026, that figure stood at around $236 billion. The acceleration in the back half of the year has been dramatic. Investor appetite is cooling, not collapsing Th...