AI Borrowing Spree Drives Record $6.61 Trillion Global Bond Issuance, Led by Tech Giants

Global bond issuance has hit a record $6.61 trillion year-to-date across investment-grade and junk debt, up 15% year over year and surpassing the prior full-year high with two months left, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Cloud computing and data center developers alone issued nearly $368 billion, more than six times the year-earlier level and about a third of the total increase. Amazon has become the world's fourth-largest bond issuer, trailing only Germany, the EU and Italy and ahead of France and Britain. Tech firms now hold five of the ten largest U.S. corporate issuer slots, while financial institutions' share has fallen to at least a decade low. Hyperscalers and neoclouds are projected to spend nearly $4.5 trillion on AI infrastructure over the next three years. Signs of strain are emerging. Data center investment-grade bonds in the U.S. now yield as high as 7.2%, and CoreWeave debt sold off sharply this month on credit concerns, spilling into broader credit markets. Some U.S. Treasury yields recently reached their highest since 2002. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva called this month for a "prudent hawkish" stance from central banks. Morgan Stanley expects a busy November issuance window.