Shareholders can bet on a story. Lenders have to be paid back.
The AI buildout now leans on lenders. US companies with solid credit ratings have sold a record $1.88 trillion of bonds this year, about a fifth by the tech giants building AI’s data centers.
Lenders are charging for it. Since December, the extra interest Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle pay over US government bonds is up about 0.31 percentage points, the market’s 0.01. As a group, they paid less than the market until late 2025; now they pay more.
A lender’s question is a strategy question: will the spending earn back its cost? Strategist is built to test management’s strategy against an independent alternative.
Would your AI plan pass that test? strategist.intelligenxe.com
