Larry Ellison takes on debt to pivot Oracle into AI juggernaut

Larry Ellison is making the kind of bet that either gets studied in business school textbooks or cautionary tale documentaries. The Oracle co-founder has loaded the company up with tens of billions in debt to chase the AI infrastructure boom, transforming what was once a stodgy enterprise software company into something that looks more like a hyperscaler with a database habit. The numbers are staggering. Oracle raised $50 billion in bonds in February 2026 and tacked on an additional $58 billion in related borrowing within just the first two months of the year. That’s over $100 billion in debt financing in roughly 60 days. Project Stargate and the $500 billion vision The borrowing spree is fueling Project Stargate, Oracle’s plan to invest up to $500 billion in AI-focused data centers over the next four years. Individual facilities are targeting over 500,000 square feet, with an overall power capacity goal of 10 gigawatts. Ellison’s pivot traces back to a very specific moment: the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. That’s when the 80-year-old tech billionaire reportedly reclaimed significant operational control of Oracle, recognizing that generative AI would reshape enterprise compu...