Borrow, partner or fall behind... The fight for AI supremacy is now a battle to secure funding

The front line in the race for AI supremacy is expanding beyond securing semiconductors and data centers to financing. As the cash-flow burden of massive investment in AI infrastructure grows, U.S. big tech companies are increasing bond and stock issuance, while Korean companies are joining forces with global investors to secure funding. The speed of building AI infrastructure is not the only new competitive factor; companies must also secure capital reliably and recoup their investment.
According to foreign media and industry sources on the 3rd, Meta is considering issuing at least $20 billion in dollar- and euro-denominated bonds to fund investment in AI infrastructure on the 2nd local time. The move would add to its borrowing, following a $25 billion corporate bond issue in April. Oracle also decided that day to raise a total of $20 billion through stock and bond offerings, worth $10 billion each.
The surge in AI investment costs lies behind the large-scale fundraising. Meta’s capital expenditure forecast for this year stands at $135 billion to $145 billion. Its free cash flow posted a deficit of $2.12 billion in the third and fourth quarters. S&P Global lowered its outlook on Meta’s credit rating to “negative,” citing deteriorating cash flow due to AI investment.
Korean companies are also moving quickly to expand AI infrastructure using external capital. Naver is working with Brookfield and NVIDIA Corporation to build a 1-gigawatt (GW) AI factory. Under the arrangement, Brookfield will invest up to $9 billion and secure graphics processing units (GPUs) and data centers through a special-purpose vehicle (SPV), which will supply computing resources to NAVER Cloud. NVIDIA Corporation is also pursuing a strategic equity investment of $1 billion in Naver.
SK Telecom Co., Ltd. (SKT) has secured equity investments totaling 3.08 trillion won in SK Horizon, its dedicated AI data center entity, from KKR and a consortium of IMM Investment and Stonebridge. Samsung SDS has approved issuing 1.2 trillion won in convertible bonds (CBs) to KKR and plans to expand its AI infrastructure and AI transformation (AX) businesses, also drawing on its own cash and cash equivalents.
Although their fundraising methods differ, the companies share a strategy of spreading the investment burden while accelerating the construction of AI infrastructure. But using external capital does not eliminate that burden. Bond issuance entails interest and principal repayment obligations, while equity investment brings dilution and the need to share returns with investors. Having outside investors own data centers also entails long-term fees for using computing resources. Ultimately, companies must not only build AI infrastructure quickly with the funds they raise, but also cover their cost of capital with the revenue and cash it generates. An industry source said, “The speed at which companies turn massive infrastructure investment costs into actual revenue from AI businesses is expected to determine their competitiveness.”




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