Amazon raises $17.5B loan facility for AI as Big Tech debt levels climb

Amazon secured a $17.5 billion loan facility as the company turns to debt markets to help fund one of the largest AI infrastructure buildouts in the technology industry.

The facility was disclosed in a June 8 filing and arranged by a group of major banks including Citibank, BofA Securities, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC, and Wells Fargo. It is structured as a delayed draw term loan, giving Amazon flexibility to access the capital over time.

The financing comes as Amazon prepares to spend heavily on data centers, chips, networking equipment, and cloud infrastructure tied to Amazon Web Services. The company has guided for roughly $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026, with AI demand driving a large share of that increase.

Amazon has already been active in debt markets. In March, the company moved to raise about $37 billion through an 11 part bond sale to help fund its AI infrastructure expansion. The new loan facility adds another large source of liquidity as the company competes with Microsoft, Google, and Meta for AI cloud workloads.

The shift reflects a broader change across Big Tech. Hyperscalers are no longer relying only on operating cash flow to fund AI capacity. They are increasingly using debt and other financing structures to keep pace with surging demand for compute.

That matters because the AI race is becoming a balance sheet contest. Data centers require enormous upfront spending on land, power, cooling, chips, and networking before revenue fully materializes.

For Amazon, the strategy is defensive and offensive at the same time. AWS remains one of the company’s most important profit engines, but keeping that position requires enough infrastructure to serve large enterprise and AI customers without falling behind rivals.

The lending syndicate also sends a signal. Major banks are still willing to extend large credit lines to the biggest AI infrastructure buyers, suggesting institutional lenders remain comfortable with the credit risk behind the hyperscaler buildout.

For investors, the question is whether Amazon can turn this spending into durable cloud growth and margin expansion. If AI demand keeps accelerating, the debt funded buildout could reinforce AWS’s position. If returns disappoint, the same spending could pressure free cash flow and raise scrutiny around leverage.

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