Oracle faces $18B data centre debt strain amid local pushback

Oracle has never been shy about swinging big. But the company’s current expansion into AI-driven data centres is a different scale of ambition entirely, one that is now colliding hard with financial gravity and neighbourhood resistance at the same time. The numbers involved are almost cinematic in their scale. Oracle issued $18 billion in bonds in September 2025, anchored by a reported $300 billion, five-year cloud contract with OpenAI. Total financing needs across its pipeline of sites in Texas, Wisconsin, and New Mexico are estimated at up to $56 billion. And the company is reportedly targeting over $40 billion in additional debt and equity raises for its current fiscal year alone. The debt math is getting uncomfortable Oracle’s net debt is projected to exceed $105 billion by late 2025. Capital expenditure for fiscal year 2026 is tracking above $55 billion, and after that spending, the company is looking at negative free cash flow of around $24 billion. S&P responded in July 2026 by cutting Oracle’s credit rating to BBB-, placing the company exactly one notch above junk status. A single further downgrade would push Oracle into sub-investment-grade territory, a category that t...