The biggest companies leading the artificial intelligence infrastructure build-out have said they expect hundreds of billions of dollars in capital expenditures through 2026. That trend is only set to accelerate and will be funded increasingly with debt, according to Goldman Sachs.
"While the exact magnitude and mix of future debt issuance from the hyperscalers is uncertain, our review of management commentary leaves us expecting a growing role for debt financing in the AI buildout in the years ahead," credit strategists led by Amanda Lynam said in a research note this week.
A hyperscaler is a large tech company that builds and operates massive data center infrastructure for computing, storage, and AI processing.
Over the past year and a half, capital expenditures from the leading hyperscalers — Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), and Oracle (ORCL) — have boomed, as those companies have entered into an arms race focused on the build-out of vast infrastructure underpinning AI development.
In 2025, the companies collectively reported $405 billion in capex. By year end for 2026, that figure is expected to reach $750 billion, per Goldman Sachs, before nearing $1.2 trillion in 2027.

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