Hua Er Jie Jian Wen·2026-02-10 08:30Core Viewpoint - Alphabet is launching an unprecedented financing campaign globally, having completed a record $20 billion bond issuance and is now entering the European market with Swiss franc bonds and rare 100-year pound bonds to meet its $185 billion AI infrastructure investment needs [1]. Group 1: Bond Issuance Details - Alphabet has begun selling Swiss franc-denominated bonds with maturities of 3, 6, 10, 15, and 25 years, marking its first entry into the Swiss bond market [1]. - The company is also planning to issue its first pound bonds with maturities of 3, 6, 15, 32, and 100 years, which would be the first issuance of such long-term bonds by a tech company since Motorola in 1997 [1]. - The recent bond issuance is driven by Alphabet's announcement of a record capital expenditure plan of $185 billion for this year, which is double last year's spending and exceeds the total of the past three years [1]. Group 2: Demand and Market Trends - The $20 billion dollar bond issuance attracted over $100 billion in peak subscription orders, making it one of the strongest demand corporate bond issuances in history [2]. - The strong market demand led to significant pricing tightening, with the 3-year bond pricing at a premium of only 0.27 percentage points over U.S. Treasuries, down from an initial discussion of 0.6 percentage points [2]. - The issuance trend is part of a broader financing wave in the tech sector, with the five major AI cloud computing giants issuing $121 billion in corporate bonds last year, compared to an average of $28 billion from 2020 to 2024 [3]. Group 3: Future Projections - Morgan Stanley projects that borrowing by cloud computing giants will surge from $165 billion in 2025 to $400 billion [3]. - The total investment-grade bond issuance is expected to reach a record $2.25 trillion this year, driven by the current wave of bond issuances [3]. - Bloomberg industry research estimates that capital expenditures for AI, cloud infrastructure, and data centers will total $3 trillion by 2029 [3]. Group 4: Market Concerns - The surge in bond issuance is raising concerns about bond valuation pressures, with expectations that the large volume will widen corporate bond spreads [4]. - Current market conditions are likened to those of 1997-98 or 2005, indicating potential credit performance issues, although not necessarily at the end of a cycle [4].