Alphabet raises $3.9 billion in inaugural Australian dollar bond

Alphabet, the U.S. tech giant, has successfully raised A$5.5 billion ($3.89 billion) through its first-ever Australian dollar bond issuance, according to a term sheet shared with Reuters. The company issued bonds with maturities ranging from 3 to 20 years, setting a coupon rate of 6.9 percent for the longest tenor bond. Investor bids for the A$5.5 billion debt offering far exceeded expectations, totaling over A$18 billion, indicating a strong demand from global investors for new notes from technology companies.

This marks Alphabet's entry into the Australian dollar debt market and the first U.S. large-cap tech company to issue a local currency bond since Apple in 2016. The issuance also highlights the increasing trend of global technology companies tapping into capital markets to fund their growing AI spending, with the sector expected to spend over $730 billion this year on AI alone.