Alphabet Raises $32 Billion in Global Debt for AI

Alphabet Inc. raised nearly $32 billion in global debt over a 24-hour period ending February 11, 2026, to finance a massive expansion of its artificial intelligence capacity. The borrowing campaign began with a $20 billion U.S. dollar bond sale on February 9 and expanded into European markets with sterling and Swiss franc offerings. A centerpiece of the drive was a rare 100-year "century bond" denominated in sterling, raising 1 billion pounds at a 6.125% interest rate. This marks the first such issuance by a technology firm since Motorola in 1997.

These funds support a projected 2026 capital expenditure budget between $175 billion and $185 billion, double the $91 billion spent in 2025. Alphabet plans to allocate roughly 60% of this spending to semiconductor chips—specifically its Tensor Processing Units co-developed with Broadcom Inc.—and 40% to long-duration assets like data centers and power substations. Parallel to the debt raise, European regulators cleared Alphabet's $32 billion acquisition of cloud cybersecurity firm Wiz.

The move reflects a broader trend among AI hyperscalers, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle, who are increasingly turning to debt markets to fund a combined spending spree expected to exceed $630 billion this year. While demand from pension funds and insurance companies was high, some analysts warned that the century bond signals market froth. Following the announcement, Alphabet's share price declined by 1.8% as investors weighed the scale of required spending against potential contractions in free cash flow.