Amazon is raising $37 billion, highlighting the cost of the AI race today

Financial markets took notice when Amazon launched a bond offering worth approximately $37 billion on March 10, 2026. The deal generated extraordinary interest, with investor demand reaching about $126 billion. The company thus sent a clear signal that in 2026 it intends to significantly ramp up spending on artificial intelligence and data centers, with total capital expenditures expected to reach approximately $200 billion.[1]

About the Company

Amazon.com, Inc. is an American publicly traded company headquartered in Seattle. It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and launched its online store in 1995. The company, which started out selling books, has become a global leader in e-commerce, cloud services, and digital technologies. In 2025, it reported revenue of $716.9 billion, net income of $77.7 billion, and employed 1,576,000 people at year-end. Its AWS division generated $128.7 billion in revenue in 2025, making Amazon one of the largest and most influential companies on global stock markets.[2]

A record $37 billion is no ordinary bond deal

On March 10, 2026, Amazon launched a bond issue worth approximately $37 billion, divided into 11 tranches, with demand in the U.S. reaching approximately $126 billion on the very first day. This is particularly significant because it is not a small supplementary offering, but one of the largest corporate issuances of the year, demonstrating that the market remains willing to aggressively finance major tech names. Amazon is also following up on its November offering of $15 billion, though the March deal is significantly larger and positions the company as a leading symbol of the new wave of AI financing through debt. It is also crucial for investors that the company is selling debt in both dollars and euros, thereby expanding its scope for raising capital for further infrastructure growth.1[3]

Amazon has openly admitted that AI will cost tens of billions more

It is not just the financing itself that matters, but also where the money is headed. In its Q4 2025 earnings report, Amazon stated that it expects capital expenditures of approximately $200 billion in 2026. CEO Andy Jassy directly linked this plan to high demand for AI, chips, robotics, and other infrastructure. In the same report, the company announced that AWS revenue in 2025 grew by 20% to $128.7 billion and jumped by 24% to $35.6 billion in the fourth quarter alone. This means that Amazon is already seeing the growth in AI demand in real numbers and is not investing blindly. At the same time, however, free cash flow over the past 12 months has fallen to $11.2 billion, primarily due to increased investments in property and equipment, indicating that financing pressure will continue.3

Amazon is becoming part of a much larger debt race

Amazon is not an isolated case but part of a broader trend across the tech sector. Reuters reported that Big Tech is set to spend more than $600 billion on AI by 2026, a sharp increase from $410 billion in 2025. In February, Alphabet sold $31.51 billion in global debt, including a rare 100-year bond worth £1 billion. Oracle, meanwhile, announced in February that it expects to raise $45 to $50 billion in 2026 through a combination of debt and equity to expand its cloud capacity. The fundamental shift is that companies, which for many years have relied primarily on their own cash to fuel growth, are now beginning to utilize external capital on a large scale for AI infrastructure. These changes not only their financing but also the way the market will assess risk and returns across the entire sector.[1]3

The OECD is already warning that AI is transforming the entire corporate bond market

According to the OECD, governments and companies are expected to borrow a combined total of $29 trillion on bond markets in 2026, which is 17% more than in 2024. Even more significant for this article is the fact that the nine major AI players could issue $1.2 trillion in corporate bonds between 2026 and 2030 to cover capital expenditures. The OECD also notes that these nine major players raised $122 billion on bond markets as early as 2025, accounting for nearly half of all global technology company issuances. This is clear evidence that AI is no longer just a technological topic, but also one of the biggest financial topics of our time. Amazon’s bond issuance is therefore significant not only in and of itself, but also as a signal that pressure on bond markets will continue to grow in the coming years.[2][4]

For shareholders, the question now is whether AI investments will yield returns or put pressure on valuations

The biggest question is no longer whether companies will invest in AI, but whether they can translate these massive expenditures into sustainable profits. While Amazon has a strong credit profile and the issuance attracted extremely high demand, it is also entering a period in which return on capital will be scrutinized much more closely. If AWS continues to grow at a rate of 20 to 24% and AI services generate new margins, today’s debt may prove to be a very sensible move. However, if AI revenues materialize more slowly, the market may begin to reassess whether record capital expenditures of $200 billion are justified. This is precisely why this report is significant for the entire stock market. It shows that the next phase of the AI boom will not be measured solely by revenue growth, but also by how effectively companies manage record investments and rising debt levels. [3]

Conclusion

Amazon is now at a point where its future growth will be judged not only by the size of the company, but primarily by how effectively it can convert record investments in AI into new revenue. A $37 billion debt issuance, investor demand of $126 billion, and planned capital expenditures of approximately $200 billion indicate that the company has entered a new phase in which its position in the next generation of the technology market will be determined. Amazon has a strong foundation, a dominant position in the cloud, and growing demand for AWS services, but at the same time, it is facing increasing pressure to deliver a return on capital. That is precisely why this report is not just about one major IPO, but about the fact that the battle for AI has shifted from visions to reality, where concrete numbers, actual margins, and the ability to sustain growth even amid record spending will be decisive.

[1,2,3] Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and current expectations, which may be inaccurate, or on the current economic environment, which may change. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance. They involve risks and other uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements.

[1]https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-targeting-37-billion-42-billion-bond-sale-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-03-10/

[2]https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2026/Amazon-com-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-Results/

[3]https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/tech-companies-tap-debt-markets-fund-ai-cloud-expansion-2026-03-10/

[4]https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/global-debt-report-2026_e9d80efd-en.html