AI is running on borrowed money

AI is running on borrowed moneySign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inboxRisk is rising as big tech companies like Oracle need to turn to the bond market for staggering sums to finance data centres. PHOTO: NYTIMESJeff Sommer Published Jul 24, 2026, 05:00 AMUpdated Jul 24, 2026, 05:00 AMSet as preferred sourceWealth from Oracle, the giant tech company founded by Larry Ellison, is enabling Larry and his son, David, to become media moguls. David has taken control of Paramount and is now engaged in a hotly contested US$111 billion (S$143 billion) bid to take over Warner Bros.

Discovery, too. They are trying to build a media behemoth containing two big movie studios, multiple streaming services and news networks CNN and CBS News, all under one enormous corporate roof.But what hasn’t received nearly as much attention is another important development, the downgrading of Oracle debt.

It now stands just one notch above junk bond status. That happened on July 9, when S&P Global said that Oracle’s finances had been deteriorating. Oracle has also been hit hard in the stock market, reducing the value of Larry Ellison’s holdings since September by about US$230 billion.

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