Google’s parent company is making a financial wager that would outlive most of us.
Alphabet is in the midst of a massive global debt spree, seeking to raise approximately $31 billion from investors worldwide. This follows an announcement last week that Alphabet plans to double its capital spending to a whopping $185 billion this year, primarily to build the data centers and infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence.
The fundraising frenzy started with a US dollar bond sale that swelled to $20 billion after receiving over $100 billion in investor orders. But the real headline-grabber is happening across the Atlantic.
A sterling bet for the next 100 years
As part of its first-ever bond sale in British pounds, Alphabet is issuing an ultra-rare 100-year bond. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, this is the first time a technology firm has sold a bond with such an “extreme maturity” since Motorola did it back in 1997.
For a corporate bond, a century is an eternity. Businesses transform, technologies become obsolete, and corporate landscapes shift. That’s why the market for 100-year bonds is usually the domain of governments and centuries-old institutions like universities.
“It’s quite difficult to predict what the AI ecosystem will look like in five years’ time, let alon[e] in a hundred years,” Song Jin Lee, European and US credit strategist at HSBC Bank, told Bloomberg. “The sector as a whole will be there. But the relative pecking order is quite unpredictable.”
Yet demand has been colossal. According to Bloomberg, the expected £750 million ($1 billion) century bond alone attracted over £5.75 billion in orders, more than seven times the amount offered. It was the most sought-after part of Alphabet’s £5.5 billion sterling deal, which drew a record £30 billion in total bids.
Who’s buying a 2126 IOU?
The primary buyers of such ultra-long debt are pension funds and insurance companies, which have very long-term liabilities to match with stable assets.
Gordon Kerr, a European macro strategist at KBRA, told Bloomberg that Alphabet is looking to reach every possible type of lender. Regarding the 100-year timeframe, Kerr noted, “the guy who underwrites it is probably not going to be the guy who’s there when it gets repaid.”
The sterling market has become a hotspot for this kind of funding due to strong demand from these UK-based investors.
A high-stakes race fueled by debt
Alphabet is not alone. Tech giants like Meta and Microsoft have also announced massive spending plans for 2026. Morgan Stanley expects borrowing by the big cloud-computing firms to hit $400 billion this year, up from $165 billion in 2025, according to Bloomberg.
This debt-fueled arms race is pushing companies to explore every corner of the financial markets. Alongside the sterling sale, Alphabet is also raising at least 2.75 billion Swiss francs ($3.6 billion) in its debut Swiss franc bond offering.
Not everyone is convinced that a 100-year tech bond is a safe bet. Alex Ralph, a portfolio manager at Nedgroup Investments, expressed skepticism to Bloomberg about locking into such a long maturity with a company in an “ever-changing landscape.” Ralph added, “100-year bonds tend to have a habit of calling the top of a market as well.”
There is also the historical warning of J.C. Penney. As Bloomberg noted, the retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2020, just 23 years after issuing its own 100-year bond.
Some strategists warn that the massive issuance could eventually push corporate bond spreads wider, though they don’t see it signaling an end-of-cycle credit crunch. Still, the question remains whether locking in financing for an entire century represents visionary planning or market exuberance.
Also read: Oracle Seeks $50B in 2026 to fund AI cloud growth.
