Amazon looks to raise at least $37 billion through bond sale

The firm is marketing US high-grade debt in as many as 11 tranches, ranging from two to 50 years, and it seeks to raise $25 billion to $30 billion. Bloomberg

• Amazon launches massive bond sale to fund AI investments
• Aims for $37-42B in US and euro bonds over 19 tranches
• Sale follows similar jumbo offerings by Alphabet and Oracle

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Amazon.com Inc. has kicked off what is likely to be one of the biggest corporate bond offerings ever, in the latest blockbuster fundraising to pay for the artificial intelligence boom.

The tech giant is targeting the equivalent of about $37 billion to $42 billion in a cross-Atlantic offering in dollars and euros, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The firm is marketing US high-grade debt in as many as 11 tranches, ranging from two to 50 years, and it seeks to raise $25 billion to $30 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because discussions are private. Initial price discussions for the longest portion of that offering — a note maturing in 2076 — involve a yield of about 1.55 percentage points more than Treasuries, one of the people said.

Amazon also targets raising as much as €10 billion ($11.6 billion) from a potential eight-part debut euro bond sale with maturities of two to 38 years slated for as early as Wednesday. It would be the most tranches sold by a company in the region.

Representatives for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co.. and Citigroup Inc., among the banks managing Amazon’s dollar-bond offering, declined to comment. HSBC Holdings Plc, which is also on the deal, didn’t immediately respond to a comment request. In a reply, Amazon pointed to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday for the deal.

Bond sales have restarted globally after US President Donald Trump hinted that the war with Iran will end soon. At least €26.9 billion of bonds are set price in Europe on Tuesday, making it the busiest day since the conflict in the Middle East started over a week ago. Debt capital markets globally slowed sharply to start March.

“Elevated volatility is slamming the issuance window shut, and with potentially record one‑day supply, dealers are hypersensitive to every tick in broader risk,” said Mark Clegg, a senior fixed-income trader at Allspring Global Investments. “Week by week becomes hour by hour.”

Amazon’s strong credit profile means its debt sale can’t be seen as representative of broader credit-market demand as geopolitical uncertainty continues to be the main factor weighing on markets, said Slawomir Soroczynski, head of fixed income at Crown Agents Investment Management.

The sale is the latest in a series of jumbo note offerings by hyperscalers as they plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Alphabet Inc. raised roughly $32 billion in the US and European high-grade bond markets last month while Oracle Corp. priced $25 billion of dollar notes.

Amazon’s prior US issuance was in November, when it sold $15 billion of bonds.

Potentially selling 19 different notes in two currencies “hit on the notion that these hyperscalers need to tap every investor base across tenors and currencies it can to finance the immense amount of spending planned for this year and going forward,” said Zachary Griffiths, head of investment-grade and macro strategy at CreditSights.

Amazon’s latest offering comes at a time when equity investors have grown more worried that the company’s massive spending in AI may not pay off. The firm last month said it would invest about $200 billion in data centers, chips and other equipment in 2026, topping analysts’ estimates.

The company — along with Alphabet, Meta Platforms Inc., Oracle and Microsoft Corp. — have forecast capital expenditures of about $650 billion in 2026. In contrast, 21 companies including the largest US-based automakers, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Walmart Inc. are projected to spend a combined $180 billion, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg in February.

Amazon’s sale is among 11 in the US investment-grade market on Tuesday.

“We expect that borrowers with financing needs will keep monitoring the market closely and look to take advantage of periods of relative stability,” said Kyle Stegemeyer, head of investment-grade debt capital markets and syndicate at U.S. Bank, “especially given the healthy credit backdrop and the continued strong bid for high‑quality assets.”

Investors have placed orders 4.1 times the size of this year’s US investment-grade deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.