The AI boom is moving from cash to credit. Companies building the data centers and compute capacity behind OpenAI have amassed roughly $96 billion in debt, according to the Financial Times—underscoring how a loss-making standard-bearer is reshaping corporate funding. OpenAI has committed about $1.4 trillion to secure future energy and compute, yet expects about $20 billion in revenue this year; HSBC estimates that even topping $200 billion by 2030 would leave the company needing another $207 billion. The shift is rippling through bond markets. Bank of America says the five hyperscalers—Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle—issued $121 billion of new debt this year, more than four times their recent annual average, swelling investment-grade supply and pressuring spreads. Credit markets are starting to price the risk: Oracle’s five-year CDS widened roughly 60 basis points to 104 bps since late September, while CoreWeave’s jumped about 280 bps to around 640 bps, a Deutsche Bank note said. Investors are hedging more as public credit replaces free cash flow in funding AI-capex plans.
OpenAI’s suppliers pile up $96 billion in borrowings as the loss-making AI leader drives a debt-fueled infrastructure boom
- Trending
- Comments
- Latest
