Huan Qiu Shi Bao·2025-10-27 22:47Core Insights - The explosive growth in demand for AI services and data centers has led to a tripling of the interest-bearing debt of approximately 1,300 major tech companies to around $1.35 trillion over the past decade [1] - The shift in business models from low-capital software operations to AI-driven businesses requiring large-scale data centers is a key factor behind this debt increase [1] - The total interest-bearing debt of the five major U.S. tech giants—Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and Alphabet—has reached $457 billion, 2.8 times higher than a decade ago [1] Group 1 - The increase in debt reflects intense competition among global tech companies in the AI sector [2] - Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the high stakes of investing in AI, suggesting that the risk of not investing is greater than the risk of misallocating funds [2] - Strong investor demand is supporting corporate debt financing, with Oracle's recent bond issuance receiving orders approximately five times the issuance size [2] Group 2 - Concerns have arisen among some investors regarding the profitability of AI-related businesses supported by tech companies [3] - The proportion of companies with a debt-to-equity ratio exceeding 1 has risen to 13.8%, an increase of 4.9 percentage points over the past decade [3] - While nearly 90% of companies currently have the financial strength to manage debt repayments, the number of companies with excessively high debt-to-equity ratios, such as Oracle at 4.6, is increasing [3]