Five ways to fund AI. Only two create interest expense
Alphabet, AMD, Intel and CoreWeave raised $52.35bn for AI capacity in 22 days using five instruments. Where each lands on the statements is not the same.
5 primary sources · 1 correctionTicker · 5 articles
Alphabet (GOOGL)
Alphabet appears in our research through two connected questions: what long-dated borrowing commits the company to, and how capital spending changes cash available after investment. The dedicated bond analysis works through maturities and interest costs from offering documents. Comparative articles place that financing alongside share issuance, bank facilities and cash-flow definitions used by other companies.
Last checked Aug 25, 2026 All companies
Where to start
Alphabet borrowed $25bn. $10bn of it matures after 2045 is the dedicated analysis behind this research file. The articles below distinguish this company’s own results from comparisons and supply-chain context.
How to read these figures
A maturity schedule measures contractual timing. It does not establish that borrowing funded a specific investment unless the source documents say so. Each group below links to the article that establishes its period, definition and source. These are dated research findings, not current market quotes.
Alphabet borrowed $25bn. $10bn of it matures after 2045
Alphabet priced nine tranches out to a 6.500% bond due 2066. Its first-half interest expense was already up more than fivefold before any of this landed.
5 primary sources · 1 correctionInterest costs rose 10%. The median firm paid the same
Interest expense rose 10.1% across 1,519 listed non-financial companies in the first half of 2026, and twenty of them produced three quarters of the rise.
5 primary sources · 1 correctionUS capex overtook buybacks in 2025. Five names did it
Capital spending reached $764.7bn against $727.9bn of buybacks across 361 listed companies, the first time since 2021. Remove five names and it reverses.
5 primary sources · 1 correctionAmazon's 2025 free cash flow: $7.7B, $6.1B, or −$11.8B
Amazon's own 10-K supports all three figures under three standard definitions, and one of them is negative. Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta, the same way.
6 primary sources · 1 correctionFigures we worked out for GOOGL
Not a data feed. Each of these was calculated inside one of the articles above, from the filings listed at the bottom of this page. The arithmetic is shown so you can redo it — and it is re-run every time this site is built.
| Figure | Value | Arithmetic |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabet borrowed $25bn. $10bn of it matures after 2045 | ||
| Fixed-rate principal | $23,750m | 1250 + 2000 + 3500 + 2500 + 4500 + 3000 + 4500 + 2500 |
| Total offering including floating-rate notes | $25,000m | 23750 + 750 + 500 |
| Annual fixed coupon interest | $1,332m | 1250*0.045 + 2000*0.04625 + 3500*0.04875 + 2500*0.052 + 4500*0.0545 + 3000*0.0625 + 4500*0.06375 + 2500*0.065 |
| Weighted average fixed coupon | +5.6% | (1250*0.045 + 2000*0.04625 + 3500*0.04875 + 2500*0.052 + 4500*0.0545 + 3000*0.0625 + 4500*0.06375 + 2500*0.065) / 23750 |
| Principal maturing after 2045 | $10,000m | 3000 + 4500 + 2500 |
| Share of the offering maturing after 2045 | +40.0% | (3000 + 4500 + 2500) / 25000 |
| Half a year of new fixed coupon | $666m | 1331.5 / 2 |
| Implied first-half interest expense | $2,477m | 1811 + 1331.5 / 2 |
| Increase on the reported first half | +36.8% | (1811 + 1331.5 / 2) / 1811 - 1 |
| Alphabet's own interest expense, four quarters | 37.59× | 1278 / 34 |
| Spread widening from the 2028 tranche to the 2066 tranche | 97 bp | 130 - 33 |
| Interest costs rose 10%. The median firm paid the same | ||
| Alphabet, first half to first half | +513.9% | 1811 / 295 - 1 |
| Alphabet's second quarter against the whole prior-year half | 4.33× | 1278 / 295 |
| US capex overtook buybacks in 2025. Five names did it | ||
| Alphabet share of the capex increase | +18.5% | (91447 - 24640) / 361358 |
14 figures from 3 articles. Totals and industry averages that belong to no single company are not listed here.
Company-specific SEC sources
- Alphabet Inc — prospectus supplement, 6 August 2026 (424B5)Nine tranches, $25.0bn total, 4.500% 2028 through 6.500% 2066
- Alphabet Inc. — Free writing prospectus (pricing term sheet), August 6 2026Every tranche, coupon, yield, spread, offering price and underwriting discount quoted here
- Alphabet Inc. — Form 8-K, filed August 10 2026Items 8.01 and 9.01 · the closing of the offering
- Alphabet Inc. — SEC EDGAR filing history (CIK 0001652044)The 424B5 and 424B2 prospectus supplements filed 6 and 7 August 2026
- SEC company concept API — Alphabet, InterestExpenseNonoperatingQuarterly interest expense of $34M, $261M, $533M and $1,278M across the four quarters to June 2026
- Alphabet Inc. — FY2025 Form 10-KSpot-checked: capex $91,447M in FY2025 against $24,640M in FY2021
6 documents, deduplicated. Only SEC sources explicitly identified with this company are listed here. Broader research sources remain in the linked articles.