Alphabet (GOOGL.US) raised $3.9 billion in its first Australian dollar bond, adding another wave of intensive financing from global technology companies

The Zhitong Finance App learned that according to a list of terms seen by foreign media, US tech giant Alphabet (GOOGL.US) successfully raised 5.5 billion Australian dollars (about 3.89 billion US dollars) through its first Australian dollar bond issuance, adding another step to the intensive financing wave of global technology companies. According to the list of terms and conditions, Alphabet's current offering covers the four types of 3-year, 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year terms, of which the longest term 20-year bond interest rate is 6.9%. As of press time, Alphabet had not responded to requests for comment.

This is Alphabet Inc.'s first entry into the Australian dollar bond market. The cost of financing long-term bonds is close to 7%, or the highest coupon rate record in the company's history. According to email guidelines from ANZ (ANZ), one of the leading underwriters, Alphabet will price a multi-term Australian dollar bond on Wednesday (August 19). The 20-year model has an indicative yield of about 6.95%, which is the longest term portion of this offering, and the final pricing may change.

This bond issuance is another financing move by Alphabet after completing the issuance of 25 billion US dollar bonds at the beginning of this month. Global tech companies are increasingly turning to capital markets to finance their huge AI investments, which previously usually relied on their own cash reserves to invest.

It is estimated that these companies will spend more than 730 billion US dollars on AI this year, and huge capital expenses are already squeezing cash flow.

Morgan Stanley predicts that in 2026, the global AI-related debt issuance scale may be close to 570 billion US dollars, more than double that of last year. In the first quarter of this year alone, the five largest computing power companies have issued 115 billion US dollars in bonds, compared to about 70 billion US dollars for the full year of 2025.

Alphabet recorded negative free cash flow for the first time in the company's history in its second-quarter earnings report released at the end of July. Capital expenditure soared to $44.9 billion, and free cash flow fell to $58.55 billion. In the first quarter, the company still had positive free cash flow of $10.1 billion.