To fill the estimated $1850 billion capital expenditure black hole in 2026, Google's parent company, Alphabet, recently launched a massive debt issuance plan.Latest report from CNBCAlphabet has now raised nearly $320 billion (about NT$1.02 trillion), far exceeding the original expectations.
This trend of "borrowing money to buy graphics cards and build server rooms" shows no signs of abating. Rumors suggest Meta is also preparing to follow suit in the first half of this year, while Oracle has already borrowed $250 billion. This largest infrastructure race in human history is fueled by Wall Street's massive funding.
Alphabet's bond issuance hit a record high, with its pound sterling bonds boasting a maturity of up to 100 years.
Alphabet's latest bond issuance can be described as a full-scale offensive. According to sources, in addition to dollar bonds, Alphabet also raised approximately $110 billion in the European market by issuing bonds denominated in pounds sterling and Swiss francs.
Most notably, the maturities of the sterling bonds have been extended from 3 years to 100 years, demonstrating the market's strong confidence in the long-term credit of this tech company and reflecting Alphabet's determination to secure long-term, low-interest funds.
All of this is to cope with the staggering capital expenditures (CapEx). Alphabet projected in its earnings call that capital expenditures in 2026 would jump to between $1750 billion and $1850 billion. This is almost double the $914.5 billion in 2025, and these funds will primarily flow to servers, data centers, and the most expensive AI chips.
Meta and Oracle follow suit, tech giants pour in a staggering $6300 billion.
Not only Google, but other tech companies are not far behind.
Oracle: Last week it issued $250 billion in bonds to test the market, and demand was strong.
Meta reports that it plans to conduct large-scale debt financing in the first half of 2026 to accelerate the construction of data centers across the United States.
According to Reuters, the combined capital expenditures of the world's four largest cloud service providers—Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta—are projected to exceed $6300 billion in 2026. This figure surpasses the GDP of many countries.
Jensen Huang: Demand is skyrocketing, this investment is worthwhile.
In response to external criticism that the investment was a "bubble," NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang defended the company. In an interview with CNBC, he stated that these massive investments were "completely reasonable and sustainable."
Jensen Huang's logic is: computing power = cash flow. He points out that the current market demand for computing power is "sky-high," with even six-year-old A100 chips still being leased. For companies like OpenAI or Anthropic, doubling computing power could quadruple revenue. This is a positive cycle, not a bottomless pit.
