Meta (META.US) Plans to Issue at Least $20 Billion in Cross-Border Investment-Grade Bonds, Marking Its First Foray into the Euro Bond Market

English Planet Daily learned that, according to sources familiar with the matter, Meta Platforms (META.US) is considering raising at least $20 billion through a cross-border investment-grade bond issuance to support its expanding artificial intelligence (AI) investment plans. As tech giants’ massive AI capital spending raises market doubts, Meta is testing investor appetite for its debt and seeking to further broaden its financing channels.

According to insiders, Meta has not made a final decision on the bond issuance, and the scale of the offering may be further expanded depending on investor demand. The company has engaged Citigroup (C.US) and Morgan Stanley (MS.US) to hold conference calls with potential bond investors on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for a possible issuance.

If the deal moves forward smoothly, it will mark Meta’s first large-scale bond issuance in six months and the company’s first euro-denominated bond. This move indicates that Meta is following in the footsteps of other tech giants like Alphabet (GOOGL.US, GOOG.US) and Amazon (AMZN.US), using different currency markets to diversify its sources of funding.

Last month, Meta conducted a non-deal roadshow with credit investors in Europe to communicate preliminary plans for potential fundraising. Representatives of Citigroup and Morgan Stanley both declined to comment on the size of this potential bond issuance, and Meta has yet to respond to requests for comment.

According to sources, Meta plans to issue dollar bonds with terms ranging from 5 to 30 years, while the euro bonds will range from just over 4 years to slightly more than 38 years, indicating the company intends to raise long-term funds through debt instruments of various maturities.

Notably, Meta’s capital raising plan comes amid a new wave of debt financing in the global technology sector. Since last year, to support AI data center construction and chip procurement, tech giants have raised hundreds of billions of dollars through the bond market. However, as AI investment continues to expand, the market is increasingly concerned about when such spending will translate into sufficient income and profits.

Investor concerns over the debt risks of tech companies have also been rising. Recently, the credit default swap (CDS) prices of several US tech giants have reached all-time highs, indicating that the cost incurred by investors to guard against these companies’ debt defaults is climbing.

Meta previously entered the investment-grade bond market in April this year, raising $25 billion in a single issuance. That offering attracted strong investor demand, with subscription intentions reaching as high as $96 billion.

However, as market doubts about AI investment returns deepen, investor enthusiasm for AI-related bonds has cooled; more bond buyers are demanding higher yields from issuers to compensate for potential risks.

This shift is also reflected in recent financing deals by other tech giants. On Monday, Alphabet offered noticeably higher yields than similar deals earlier this year to complete a €6 billion (about $6.7 billion) bond issuance. Meanwhile, Oracle (ORCL.US) also plans to raise $10 billion in the US dollar investment-grade bond market, attracting investors by offering higher premiums on new bond issues.

These deals show that although large tech companies still can access the bond market to raise vast sums, increasing attention to AI capital expenditures and debt burdens is putting upward pressure on their financing costs.

Besides debt financing, Meta is also supporting its AI expansion through large-scale equity financing. The company is advancing an equity financing plan that could rank among the largest in history. Last week, Meta completed the pricing of a $25 billion common stock offering and raised $12.5 billion through a preferred stock issuance.

In addition, Meta plans to raise up to $60 billion through an at-the-market (ATM) stock issuance plan. This mechanism allows listed companies to sell shares on the public market in batches depending on market conditions to obtain needed capital.

If all related plans are implemented, Meta’s total equity financing could reach as much as $97.5 billion. The combination of bond and equity financing highlights the enormous funding scale Meta requires to support AI infrastructure construction.

However, with the returns cycle for AI investments still unclear, large-scale fundraising may further intensify market concerns over tech giants’ capital expenditures, cash flow, and financial risks. Whether Meta can complete the potential bond issuance at an attractive cost will be an important signal of investor sentiment toward the AI financing boom.