Tech's AI debt boom, in one chart

The year of tech companies tapping the debt markets to fuel their AI ambitions is far from over, and debt issuance is already busting through Wall Street projections, with five months left to go in 2026.

Quick insight: The numbers surrounding 2026 debt issuance border on mind-blowing.

In a new research note from Goldman Sachs strategist Amanda Lynam on Wednesday, she estimated that $489 billion of AI-related debt has been issued this year. That's already above Goldman's estimate of $322 billion for how much of this debt came to market last year.

About 40% of this year's AI-related debt supply has been issued directly by hyperscalers. Data center financing and other parts of the tech ecosystem have also contributed.

This year, Amazon ( AMZN ) has raised about $53 billion in debt, including a $37 billion US bond offering and more than $16 billion in euro-denominated bonds.

Alphabet ( GOOG , GOOGL ) has issued roughly $20 billion in bonds. Oracle ( ORCL ) has raised about $25 billion to fund its aggressive AI expansion.

Meta ( META ) has also tapped debt markets in a big way, following its roughly $30 billion bond offering late last year with additional financing tied to AI infrastructure projects.

"We expect a range of financing markets will ultimately be required to satisfy the multi-year funding needs related to the AI build-out," Lynam explained. "This includes various parts of the syndicated credit markets (investment grade, high yield, loans), the private markets (especially infrastructure), new 'project finance' style joint venture structures, and various regional bond markets (across currencies). For example, we estimate nearly $200 billion of data center deals have been completed in the private markets — across all categories — since early 2025."

An AlphaSpace case study: Arguably, nowhere has the AI debt-issuance boom reshaped a tech balance sheet more than at Oracle ( ORCL ). Billionaire Larry Ellison's tech giant ended its recent fiscal year with $149 billion in long-term debt, up sharply from $96 billion in the prior fiscal year, according to Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace data. The company ended its fiscal year with $31.3 billion in total cash.

The company's rising debt position is one reason the stock has crashed more than 50% from June 2.

"I'll tell you there's big execution risk," BD8 Capital Partners CEO and chief investment officer Barbara Doran said on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid (see video above). "I mean, there's no question they have a huge backlog, although there is big customer concentration risk there. But it's really the debt issue, as we know. And S&P just downgraded to triple B minus. That is one notch above junk status. And so they're really betting the house on this continued demand and the fact that there is plenty of room for more capacity to be added, but it's going to take time."

The bottom line: At the moment, markets are handling the additional debt being tacked onto tech companies in stride, as many have the cash flow generation to support the leverage.

But a day of reckoning could come in 2027 if signs emerge that AI monetization is not living up to the hype. Several interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve would also be a headwind.

Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor, host of the Power Players with Brian Sozzi podcast, and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi , Instagram , and LinkedIn . Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.

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