Amazon has raised £4.25 billion ($5.76 billion) from its first-ever sterling bond sale on Wednesday, slightly more than initially expected, according to a bank managing the deal.
According to Reuters, the deal is the latest example of hyperscalers selling bonds in markets outside the U.S. this year. Hyperscalers have already issued more than $200 billion in debt this year, more than double the amount issued throughout 2025, according to LSEG data.
According to one of the lead managers, Amazon saw final demand of more than £10.65 billion ($14.45 billion) for the four-part deal. The lead manager said this was slightly lower than the roughly £12 billion ($16.28 billion) in demand seen before lead banks tightened pricing.
Amazon will raise £1.25 billion ($1.69 billion) from the three-year bond sale and £1 billion ($1.36 billion) each from six-, 12- and 19-year bonds.
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Amazon added sterling to its funding program after tapping the euro, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar bond markets.
Earlier this month, the European Central Bank warned that hyperscalers’ push into the eurozone bond market could potentially crowd out other borrowers and increase their financing costs.
Bloomberg noted that Amazon’s first sterling bond “highlights the broader question for hyperscalers: how much debt can investors absorb as AI investment drives repeated issuance? The appetite remains for hundreds of billions more,” according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Robert Schiffman and Suchi Trivedi.
Alphabet tapped the sterling market in February, raising £5.5 billion ($7.46 billion) through a five-part deal that included a rare 100-year bond. According to Reuters, demand during Amazon’s sterling bond sale was significantly lower than the demand seen for Alphabet’s offering.
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Gordon Shannon, partner at TwentyFour Asset Management, said the lower demand compared with Alphabet’s sale reflected investor concerns about sustained borrowing by hyperscalers.
“It does show that demand is not unlimited,” Shannon added.
Bloomberg Intelligence analysts also noted that the sterling bond market has a limited supply of debt from large technology companies, which should support demand for Amazon’s offering. However, the 19-year tranche could test investors’ willingness to extend the duration of their holdings to finance AI-related capital needs.
Investors are also reportedly pushing back against the massive amount of AI-related debt. More recent bond sales have attracted weaker demand and come at higher borrowing costs than offerings earlier in the year, according to Bloomberg.