Alphabet Inc. is looking to raise about $15 billion from a US high-grade dollar bond sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter, adding to a borrowing spree by companies at the forefront of the artificial intelligence investment boom.
Massive cloud-computing companies known as hyperscalers are expected to spend more than $650 billion this year to expand AI infrastructure. Since last year, the group has flooded the market with debt that investors have so far eagerly absorbed, although concerns are growing that excessive spending on AI may be fueling a bubble.
Just last week, Oracle Corp. raised $25 billion from a bond that attracted a record $129 billion of orders at its peak.
Google’s parent company is selling bonds in as many as seven parts, the people said, asking not to be identified because details are private. Initial price discussions for the longest portion of the deal - a bond maturing in 2066 - are for a premium of about 1.2 percentage point above Treasuries, the people added.
In addition to the US dollar bond offering, the company has mandated banks for potential Swiss franc and sterling debt offerings, including a rare 100-year note, according to other people with knowledge of the matter.
Alphabet didn’t immediately respond to a comment request. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., which are helping manage the US dollar bond sale, declined to comment.
Alphabet said last week that it will spend as much as $185 billion this year, far surpassing predictions. The company also reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
The technology firm last tapped the US bond market in November, when it raised $17.5 billion in a deal that attracted about $90 billion of orders. As part of that transaction, it sold a 50-year note — the longest corporate tech bond offering in US dollars last year, according to Bloomberg-compiled data — which has tightened in secondary markets. The company also sold €6.5 billion of notes in Europe at the time.
Capital spending in artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and data centers is expected to reach $3 trillion in aggregate by 2029, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence estimate.
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