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
