The AI boom is reshaping the global debt market: companies are borrowing trillions of dollars despite high interest rates
Kyiv • UNN
In the United States, corporate bond issuance reached $1.69 trillion, largely driven by AI financing. SpaceX and Broadcom are preparing new multibillion-dollar borrowings.
Technology companies investing in the development of artificial intelligence are changing the rules of the global debt market. Despite higher borrowing costs, they are ramping up bond issuance to finance data centers and chip purchases. In 2026, the volume of U.S. corporate bond issuance has already reached $1.69 trillion, Bloomberg reports, UNN writes.
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According to the agency, this is approximately 30% more than during the same period last year. At the same time, the average bond yield increased by 1.2 percentage points, reaching 5.97%. More expensive borrowing usually restrains companies, but the rapid development of AI has disrupted this pattern.
Technology giants are counting on substantial future profits from artificial intelligence. In particular, OpenAI expects its annual revenue to reach at least $70 billion by the end of the year. At the same time, investors fear that the market will struggle to absorb such a volume of new debt obligations.
Technology companies are preparing new multibillion-dollar borrowings
According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk's SpaceX is negotiating to raise $40 billion to purchase Nvidia chips. Meanwhile, Broadcom is working on financing AI chips for OpenAI and raising about $60 billion for projects involving Anthropic and other companies.
Hyperscalers' capital expenditures are expected to total about $1 trillion next year, which means that the issuance of artificial intelligence bonds will not slow down despite higher interest-rate conditions
Experts warn that large-scale borrowing by technology companies could increase financing costs for other businesses. In particular, U.S. corporations issued only $11.4 billion in bonds last week, instead of the expected $25–30 billion, indicating caution among traditional borrowers.