So U.S. companies issued 1.7 trillion worth of investment-grade bonds, of which Goldman estimates 30%—which is 510 billion—was because of AI boom. Now things are getting interesting.

You know, as things start making their way from equity issuance to debt, things become really, really interesting. Because if this AI is really a bubble, that means this gives you a sense of the amount of debt at risk.

And this is investment-grade bonds. I don’t really know—I don’t know what’s the number on the junk side, because I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of crazy stuff happening on the junk bond side. And I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other shenanigans in off-balance-sheet rates as well.
So, yeah—now we’re talking, baby.

But the debt sales, tracked by trade body Sifma through to the end of November, also reflect an AI borrowing boom, as Big Tech groups including Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Oracle tapped bond markets to fund data centres and the energy systems needed to power them.

AI-related borrowing now accounts for about 30 per cent of net investment-grade issuance, according to Goldman Sachs, and is expected to grow in 2026, despite concerns over the level of debt being taken on by the AI “hyperscalers”.