Amazon issues $15b bond to fund AI infrastructure growth

Washington [US], November 18: Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab is set to raise $15 billion from its first U.S. dollar bond offering in three years, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, as big tech firms increase investments to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
The proceeds topped initial estimates of $12 billion, the report said.
As artificial intelligence workloads grow, big technology firms are turning to large-scale debt sales to fund infrastructure expansions that cost tens of billions of dollars.
At the peak, the bond attracted about $80 billion of demand, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Proceeds may be used for everything, from acquisitions and capital expenditures to share buybacks.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The e-commerce giant filed for a six-part bond sale on Monday without disclosing a size, a regulatory filing showed. It declined to provide further details on the bond sale.
Pricing discussions for the longest portion of the deal, a 40-year bond, tightened to 0.85 percentage point above Treasuries, from 1.15 percentage point initially, the report said, citing the people.
Last month, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab announced its biggest bond sale of up to $30 billion, while cloud infrastructure and software maker Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab is also reportedly looking to raise $15 billion in bond sales.
Major tech firms including Meta, Amazon and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab are expected to spend $400 billion on AI infrastructure this year, according to Morgan Stanley estimates.
Amazon has been spending more on AI with its capital expenditure expected to total around $125 billion this year and more the year after.
It recently announced a $38 billion deal with OpenAI, giving a major lift to its cloud unit after losing ground to Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab and Google.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation