IT Home October 8 news — This afternoon (the 8th), according to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, Tencent is considering issuing offshore bonds, with financingof up to 5 billion US dollars(IT Home note: approximately 33.562 billion yuan at current exchange rates). Growing AI demand has prompted more and more technology companies to seek debt financing, and Tencent has joined them.
The bonds may be denominated in US dollars and offshore yuan, with issuance as early as this month; the specific use of this round of financing is not yet clear. In June this year, Tencent raised nearly 4.7 billion US dollars (approximately 31.549 billion yuan at current exchange rates) by issuing long-term dollar and yuan bonds,its largest bond issuance since 2020. The funds are mainly for debt refinancing and general corporate purposes, including developing AI products and services.
Investor concerns about the technology sector keep mounting, while on the other side, technology companies are still stepping up fundraising worldwide to strengthen their AI capabilities, and Tencent's current bond issuance plan is one such example. Last month, SoftBank Group raised the equivalent of 11.1 billion US dollars (approximately 74.508 billion yuan at current exchange rates) to support its massive AI plans, with its corporate junk bond issuance ranking among the largest in history.
With constant warnings about AI's potential risks and the need for safety constraints in its development, some people therefore view SoftBank's bond issuance as a touchstone for gauging bond investors' attitude toward AI financing.
A recent report by Goldman Sachs credit strategists shows that global bond issuance in the AI sector in 2026 willexceed 575 billion US dollars(approximately 3.86 trillion yuan at current exchange rates). Market concerns have not subsided: if the companies investing the most fail to see returns from AI technology, the market could be affected.
Data shows that Tencent's outstanding offshore bonds total about 22 billion US dollars (approximately 147.674 billion yuan at current exchange rates); no publicly issued bonds mature this year, and one dollar bond will mature in 2028.
To catch up with competitors such as ByteDance and Alibaba, Tencent has increased its AI investment. In the quarter ending in June, capital expenditure on AI projects and computing power grew 176% to 52.8 billion RMB.