- Meta Platforms plans to sell $20-$25 billion in investment-grade bonds for AI infrastructure funding
- The bond sale will be divided into up to six parts with yields about 1.8% above Treasuries on longest notes
- Citigroup, Morgan Stanley are managing the offering following Meta's raised 2026 capital expenditure forecast
Meta Platforms Inc. is looking to sell between $20 billion and $25 billion of investment-grade bonds, according to people with knowledge of the transaction, as the Facebook parent boosts spending on infrastructure for the artificial intelligence boom.
The company is selling the debt in as many as six parts, said one of the people, asking not to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak on the matter. Initial price discussions for the longest portion of the deal — a note maturing in 2066 — are for a yield of as much as 1.8 percentage point more than Treasuries, one of the people added, asking not to be identified.
Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are managing the bond offering. Citi didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Meta and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The debt sale comes a day after Meta posted better-than-expected revenue for the first quarter and raised projected 2026 capital expenditures to $125 billion to $145 billion. Other hyperscalers also posted results on Wednesday, and the four biggest firms are now planning to spend as much as $725 billion this year.
Big tech companies are competing for dominance in artificial intelligence, borrowing to build data centers and other infrastructure. Some investors fear the investments won't pay off. Investors have readily absorbed the supply of bonds from these companies — even during bouts of volatility tied to the conflict in Iran — underscoring relentless demand for exposure to the artificial intelligence boom.
“Post-earnings hyperscaler supply was highly anticipated by the market,” said Tony Trzcinka, a portfolio manager at Impax Asset Management. “I expect demand to hold with the caveat that the market is demanding concessions.”
Photo Credit: Bloomberg
Meta is tapping the investment-grade bond market only six months after raising $30 billion in one of the market's biggest-ever corporate debt deals. Amazon.com Inc. borrowed almost $54 billion in the US and European high-grade bond markets last month. In February, Alphabet Inc. priced about $32 billion in dollar and euro notes while Oracle Corp. raised $25 billion from a bond sale that attracted a record $129 billion of orders at its peak.
Borrowing appears to be getting more expensive for hyperscalers. The longest part of Meta's October offering, notes maturing in November 2065, were initially discussed as yielding around 1.4 percentage point more than Treasuries. Initial talk on Thursday's deal is about 0.4 percentage point higher.
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Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has said Meta will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure by the end of the decade, and that was before a memory chip shortage triggered a surge in prices. The company has announced billion-dollar deals with Nvidia Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Broadcom Inc. for chips and other hardware in 2026 and is building several massive data centers to power its efforts.
Zuckerberg said in a call with analysts Wednesday that he has “confidence” in his decision to further boost AI spending, but that confidence wasn't reciprocated by Wall Street. Investors balked when the CEO failed to provide details about how Meta plans to make a return on its investment.
Meta doesn't have “a very precise plan” for how each AI product will be cultivated, Zuckerberg said on the conference call. “I think we have a sense of the shape of where things need to be,” Zuckerberg said, while conceding that his answers might be “unfulfilling.”
Meta's last bond sale, in October, attracted a $125 billion of orders, at the time a record. The company that month also raised about $30 billion in off-balance sheet financing where the debt would sit in a special purpose vehicle tied to Blue Owl Capital Inc. That private-capital transaction was structured by Morgan Stanley.
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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