Google’s parent company Alphabet began selling €6bn ($6.7bn) of bonds on Monday. The sale is the first big test of demand for tech debt since worries about AI spending shook markets last week, Reuters reported.
The sale is split into seven parts: one floating-rate note and six fixed-rate notes, with maturities of two to 19 years. The bonds were due to be priced later in the day.
Orders passed €17bn, Reuters reported, suggesting bond investors remain willing to fund the AI build-out even after a rough week for tech shares.
It is Alphabet’s second euro bond sale this year, after a €9bn sale in May. Barclays, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank are managing the deal. Alphabet said it will use the money for general corporate purposes, which may include repaying debt.
The timing is delicate. Tech shares fell through October as investors questioned the cost of AI, and the Nasdaq ended the month down 5%.
Disappointing quarterly reports from Alphabet and Amazon, two of the biggest data centre spenders, added to the volatility, according to Reuters.
Alphabet’s shares fell more than 12% last Thursday, their worst day on record, wiping about $500bn off the company’s market value. Investors were unsettled by slower growth in Google Search and by how much cash the company is burning. The stock lost almost 19% in October, its worst month ever.
Even so, the damage has stayed in the stock. Alphabet’s existing bonds barely moved on Monday. Its 4.1% note due 2031 traded at about 95 cents on the dollar, and the shares rose about 1% before the market opened.
The money is needed. Alphabet expects capital spending of up to $205bn this year, most of it on data centres and chips. It has also signed $130.5bn in future lease payments that are not yet on its balance sheet, according to the filing cited by Reuters.
Alphabet is not alone in the debt market. Oracle, which capped new fundraising at $20B last week, began its own $10B bond sale alongside a $10B share offering on Monday.
Analysts expect big tech companies to sell more bonds in Europe to fund their infrastructure plans, Reuters reported. The region’s debt markets are deep, and a euro sale spreads the borrowing beyond the crowded dollar market.
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