Big Tech Chases $644 Billion Through Bonds, IPOs and Private Credit for AI Buildout

Big Tech Builds Massive War Chests

Wall Street Warns Capital Is Piling In Too Heavily

Global technology companies are pulling in capital from around the world like a black hole. They are tapping share sales, corporate bond markets, initial public offerings and even private credit as they race to invest in data centers faster than rivals and lock in an early lead in artificial intelligence.

As of June 9, big tech companies had raised or signaled plans to raise $644 billion this year, according to Wall Street. Bond sales by five major technology companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle — reached $159 billion. That already surpassed last year’s total of $108 billion in just over five months.

SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, which are set to list on June 12, plan to raise $200 billion through IPOs this year. OpenAI and Anthropic have each raised more than $100 billion from venture capital investors. Alphabet recently announced an $85 billion share sale, and Meta is also considering one. Anthropic also startled the market by signing a record $35 billion private loan deal despite tight conditions in private credit.

The fundraising push reflects a physical infrastructure race focused on AI data centers and access to power grids. The cash these companies have generated on their own is not enough to build data centers fast enough to run tens of thousands of costly AI chips. The funds raised from outside investors are set to go into semiconductors and power infrastructure, which could support continued strong earnings for related South Korean companies.

Some on Wall Street say the global concentration of capital has become excessive. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, recently said markets and the broader economy are heavily concentrated in AI, a single emerging industry that is highly volatile and risky. He called that a classic sign of a bubble.

Park Shin-young, New York correspondent