Nvidia just joined the likes of Amazon and Alphabet in selling off billions of dollars in bonds. What do these tech giants need help financing? Data centers, of course, to support the buildout of artificial intelligence infrastructure. For now, the cash is flowing, but when will these firms need to show some returns on those investments? Also in this episode: Commercial solar energy projects approach a deadline for federal tax credits, Fox enters the streaming wars by acquiring Roku, and Kai breaks down the history of post-FOMC press conferences.<br><br>Every story has an economic angle. Want some in your inbox? Subscribe to our daily or weekly newsletter.<br><br>Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

AI corporate bonds are booming

Marketplace

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Marketplace

## Transcript

[SPEAKER_A] On All of It with me, Alison Stewart, we'll talk about art, music, theater, literature, history, food, well, all of it. Hear in-depth, insightful interviews with authors like Zadie Smith, musicians like Steve Earle, actors like Kate Winslet, and beyond. You never know who you'll hear next on All of It, but it's always worth listening. That's All of It, available wherever you get your podcasts.

[SPEAKER_B] Before we had AT&T Business Wireless coverage, our delivery GPS wasn't the most reliable. Once our driver had to do a 14-point turn to get back on route. A 14-point turn! An influencer even livestreamed the whole thing. Not good for business. Now with AT&T Business Wireless, routes are updating on the fly and deliveries are on time. And the influencer did get us 53 new followers though. AT&T Business Wireless. Connecting changes everything.

[SPEAKER_C] The Federal Reserve started its meeting today. I wonder what Kevin Warsh is going to say tomorrow. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Ryssdal.

[SPEAKER_D] It is Tuesday.

[SPEAKER_C] Today, this one is It is the 16th of June. Good as it always is to have you along, everybody. Kevin Warsh coming up in a minute, but we begin today with a somewhat but not really hypothetical question: Is there such a thing as having too much money? It's relevant on an individual level as the world tries to decide how it feels about its first trillionaire, but it's also relevant on the corporate level because really big companies sitting on really big piles of cash are going to the capital markets to get more. Alphabet issued $85 billion worth of new shares last month. Amazon and Alphabet as well have gone to the bond market to raise billions in the past couple of months. Nvidia did the same thing yesterday. The raising cash part isn't unusual. It's the they've already got so much of it. That's the news. Marketplace's Henry Epp gets us going.

[SPEAKER_E] This is really all about data centers. Big tech, as you know, is all in on artificial intelligence, which takes a massive amount of computing power to run. So they're building out that infrastructure, which is costing them collectively hundreds of billions of dollars just this year. Julie Osk is a tech analyst and founder of Osk Advisory.

[SPEAKER_B] This is an unprecedented level of capital expenditure for most of these companies.

[SPEAKER_E] And the cash they have on hand is not enough, so that's why they're going to the bond and equity markets, says Brent Thill, managing director of tech research at Jefferies.

[SPEAKER_B] You can't fund this by just straight equity or straight debt. You need a collection of financing vehicles to fund this AI boom.

[SPEAKER_E] For big tech, this is a good time to get that financing because investors have money to put to work and they still want a piece of the AI boom. Nvidia's bond sale this week, for example, attrac...

AI corporate bonds are booming

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

AI corporate bonds are booming

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.