The largest AI data center builders roughly doubled their total debt load over five years as capital expenditure demands from the AI boom turned into one of the most aggressive borrowing cycles the tech sector has ever seen.
U.S. secured debt for data centers reached approximately $25.4 billion in 2025, a 112% jump from 2024 levels and nearly 19 times higher than where the figure sat in 2022.
Big Tech opened the firehose
Between September and October 2025 alone, AI-focused Big Tech raised $75 billion in U.S. investment-grade bonds. For context, the sector’s prior annual average over the preceding decade sat around $32 billion. They cleared that bar in roughly eight weeks.
Former bitcoin miners want in
