Global bond issuance hits record amid AI infrastructure investment frenzy

[Financial News] Massive demand for financing to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is fundamentally reshaping the global bond market. As big tech companies issue bonds in record amounts, pushing traditional financial institutions aside and emerging as key borrowers, the market is also facing growing strain from a flood of issuance and rising pressure on interest rates.
According to economic media reports on the 28th (local time), financial institutions, companies and governments worldwide have raised a total of $6.61 trillion (about 8,829 trillion won) so far this year through investment-grade and high-yield bonds. That is up 15% from the same period last year and has already surpassed the annual record set in 2025, with about two months left until year-end.
The drivers of this explosive growth are not traditional borrowers such as financial institutions or governments, but cloud-computing giants and data-center developers. These companies have issued nearly $368 billion (about 4,917 trillion won) in bonds this year alone, more than six times the amount for the same period last year. These sectors accounted for about one-third of the increase in global bond issuance this year—more than the combined increase across all other nonfinancial industries and twice the increase in government bond issuance.
John Servidea, global co-head of investment-grade financing at JPMorgan Chase’s investment bank, said, “In just one year, the rankings of major issuers in the world’s largest bond market have been fundamentally reshuffled,” adding, “A completely new long-term theme centered on AI has emerged.”
This year, Amazon.com, Inc. ranked as the world’s fourth-largest bond issuer, behind Germany, the European Union (EU) and Italy, and ahead of France and the United Kingdom. Among corporate issuers alone, Amazon.com, Inc. ranks first globally, with Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., close behind.
Tech companies account for five of the top 10 corporate bond issuers in the United States, while financial institutions—long dominant in the corporate funding market—have seen their share of issuance fall to its lowest level in at least a decade.
Behind this shift are unprecedented capital expenditure plans. Hyperscaler cloud providers and emerging cloud companies are expected to invest about $4.5 trillion (about 6,013 trillion won) over the next three years to expand and build AI infrastructure. As a result, tech companies’ reliance on the bond market is expected to continue rising for the time being.
But the flood of issuance is beginning to weigh on the market. Investors were enthusiastic about AI infrastructure-related bonds early this year, but after a string of successful large-scale offerings, questions are being raised about when technology investments will pay off and whether there is excessive investment. Some funds have consequently turned cautious and are demanding higher yields.
Yields on investment-grade bonds issued by data-center developers to finance projects in the United States have in fact reached as high as 7.2%, while yields on high-yield bonds have climbed to 10%.
Rising oil prices, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a selloff in French government bonds have combined to dampen market sentiment. Some U.S. Treasury yields have recently risen to their highest levels since 2002, adding to companies’ financing costs.
The surge in funding demand driven by AI investment has drawn the attention of monetary policymakers. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged central banks to maintain a “cautiously hawkish stance” in response to persistent inflationary pressures. Markets expect central banks in major economies to maintain tight monetary policies through 2027.
[email protected] Yoon Jae-joon Reporter