Analysts expect U.S. high-grade corporate bond spreads to widen.

A pension plan that bought the bonds claims Oracle didn’t tell investors it needed to raise a “significant amount of additional debt” to finance its AI build-out.

Across the United States, Europe, and Asia, businesses and governments have borrowed roughly US$260 billion so far, and a barrage of offerings from borrowers in Asia is poised to push that number higher.

January is expected to set a record for bond sales, reaching $215 billion in high-grade debt issued by the end of the month.

After the company’s earnings release, the cost of protecting its debt against default for five years rose 0.17 percentage point and the spread on one Oracle bond widened 20 bps.

The sums are so large that issuers will have to tap just about all major debt markets, and it could take years for these tech investments to pay off—if they pay off at all. The rush has left some lenders overexposed.

“AI is the hyperscalers’ ‘Manhattan Project. CEOs see the risk of not winning as just as much—if not more—of a risk as overspending.”

The company’s credit strategists project that overall issuance will reach $1.81 trillion in 2026, with maturing debt little changed but net issuance at its highest since 2020.