Global AI-related debt issuance is on track to nearly hit $570 billion this year — more than twice last year’s total — according to a new forecast from Morgan Stanley cited by Reuters.
With hyperscaler capital spending projected to cross $1 trillion in 2027, the bank anticipates the pace of new debt coming to market will pick up over the back half of this year
Through the end of May, roughly $236 billion in AI-linked debt had been issued globally — a figure that amounts to about four times what had been raised over the comparable stretch of last year. Debt financing is becoming a go-to tool for technology firms whose capital requirements have begun to outpace what their own earnings can cover. To diversify their funding base, hyperscalers have increasingly sold bonds outside the U.S. dollar market, the bank noted.
Morgan Stanley also observed that the sheer volume of new supply has become the dominant force moving bond prices, even as the broader economic backdrop holds up. Among semiconductor firms, Morgan Stanley said, the preferred structure is moving toward amortizing arrangements with nearer-term maturities. The surge is tied to capital expenditures that keep rising across the sector.