Alphabet has secured $20 billion through its largest-ever U.S. dollar bond issue, garnering robust interest from investors. The huge inflow of orders reflects strong market appetite for exposure to the company’s artificial intelligence-driven expansion strategy.
On February 9, Alphabet finalized the massive bond sale, surpassing the original target of $15 billion after amassing an order book exceeding $100 billion—one of the largest on record. This fundraising comes as the Google parent continues to seek capital to support its sizable investments in artificial intelligence.
In addition to tapping the U.S. bond market, Alphabet is preparing to enter the Swiss and UK markets for the first time. The company plans to issue 100-year bonds, which would represent the first such offering by a major technology firm since the late 1990s’ dot-com era.
Alphabet’s recent borrowing activity follows announcements from several major tech peers, including Meta Platforms and Amazon.com, outlining increased expenditures to advance their own AI initiatives. These signals have raised concerns over the possible impact of significant new debt on credit markets.
Despite this, on the day of the bond sale, market participants showed little hesitation. The transaction was met with significant demand, as strong investor interest appeared to outweigh worries about the AI sector’s rising need for capital.
Last week, the company informed investors that its 2026 capital expenses could reach $175 billion to $185 billion, with the upper range more than double its projected spending in 2025. This budget increase centers on expanding AI computing capabilities for Google DeepMind and meeting growing demand from its cloud services division. Alphabet initially outlined plans for higher capital investment last October.
The announcement came after its strong earnings. For the most recent quarter, Alphabet posted revenue of $113.83 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of $111.43 billion. Net income grew nearly 30% year over year, reaching $34.46 billion. The performance was bolstered by strength in Google’s core search advertising and cloud services, with annual company revenue exceeding $400 billion for the first time.
Advertising revenue increased 13.5% to $82.28 billion, while YouTube advertising rose 9% to $11.38 billion, although this figure came in slightly below Wall Street projections. Cloud revenue reached $17.66 billion, outpacing analyst forecasts.
Alphabet also reported that its Gemini app now registers over 750 million monthly active users. The latest growth, an increase of 100 million since October, represents a slower pace compared to the previous quarter’s gains.
