Amazon's $150 Billion AI Capex Surge Could Force Its First Big Bond Deal In Years

For a company that practically prints cash, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) might soon need Wall Street's help again. The e-commerce and cloud giant has not issued a major bond deal since 2021, when it raised $18.5 billion to fund the MGM acquisition — its last significant borrowing in over four years.

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Even Amazon's Fortress Balance Sheet Has Limits

Amazon sits on roughly $84 billion in cash and marketable securities with only $58 billion in debt, giving it a net cash cushion that would make most CFOs jealous.

But with AI and data center spending surging toward $150 billion by FY26, JPMorgan says even that liquidity may not be enough to comfortably fund the next phase of the AI arms race.

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Hyperscaler Cash Can't Carry AI Forever: JPMorgan

According to JPMorgan, Amazon's capex is projected to jump nearly 2x from $78 billion in FY24 as AWS accelerates investments in GPUs, networking, and power infrastructure to meet explosive AI demand. Across the sector, annual AI and data center capex is approaching $450 billion, far outpacing organic cash flow.

JPMorgan expects Big Tech collectively to issue $1.5 trillion in new investment-grade bonds over the next five years, marking a generational shift in how Silicon Valley funds itself.

"Hyperscaler cash flow remains the foundation of growth capital," analyst Erica Spear wrote in a research note, but “sustained double-digit capex intensity is beginning to compress FCF conversion."

From Self-Funded To Strategically Levered

Amazon hasn't borrowed since retiring maturities in 2022, even as peers tapped the market — Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) $30 billion, and Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL) $18 billion this year alone. JPMorgan now sees Amazon as a likely re-entrant, using a mix of multi-tranche bond issuance or AWS-focused lease structures to preserve liquidity and tax efficiency.

For investors, a new Amazon bond deal wouldn't signal weakness — it would underscore how massive AI's capital needs have become. When even the cash-rich start borrowing, it's clear the AI boom isn't just changing tech — it's rewriting the rules of corporate finance.

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