US corporate AI debt surge tests investor limits as fatigue emerges

US hyperscalers have issued approximately $220 billion in debt linked to AI spending as of mid-August 2026. For context, the same group raised just $12.5 billion during the equivalent period in 2025. That’s not a typo-free way of saying it grew a lot. It’s a 17x increase in roughly twelve months. The numbers behind the borrowing binge Amazon recently priced a $25 billion long-dated bond offering at approximately 120 basis points over Treasuries. That spread is significantly wider than what the company commanded in previous years, a clear signal that investors are demanding more compensation for absorbing yet another massive slug of tech paper. Tech investment-grade spreads overall now sit at 89 basis points over Treasuries. That’s 9 basis points wider than the broader investment-grade market. George Catrambone of DWS, the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank, pointed to fatigue as a defining feature of late-2026 offerings. New deals have required 10 to 15 basis points in concessions just to get investors to show up. How we got here Goldman Sachs has estimated that AI-related debt could reach roughly $489 billion by mid-2026, while Morgan Stanley’s global forecast runs as high as $...