Alphabet Inc. is set to launch a 100‑year bond, marking the first time a technology company has offered such a long‑dated debt instrument since the late 1990s. The deal is part of a broader debt issuance that includes several shorter tranches, but the century‑long note stands out for its unprecedented maturity.
The bond will be issued in sterling, joining four other sterling tranches in Alphabet’s debut sale of British currency. Industry insiders say the pricing could be announced as early as tomorrow, though the exact terms remain confidential.
This move echoes a 1997 offering by a former telecom giant, the last time a tech firm had ventured this far into the future. In general, 100‑year bonds are almost exclusively issued by governments and academic institutions, making corporate issuances a rarity.
Yet the AI race is pushing tech giants to raise ever larger sums of capital. With billions of dollars earmarked for research and development, ultra‑long bonds are becoming a viable, if still uncommon, tool for tapping the deep end of the funding market.
A macro strategist at a leading rating agency notes that issuers aim to attract every type of investor, from structured‑finance specialists to those willing to lock in returns for a century. The primary buyers for Alphabet’s bond will likely be insurance companies and pension funds, and the underwriter is not expected to be the same entity that receives the final repayment.
UK pension funds and insurers have been driving demand for longer‑dated debt, making the sterling market an attractive venue. Beyond governments, only a national energy firm, a prestigious university, and a charitable foundation have issued 100‑year bonds in sterling—each in 2021 when high‑grade yields were at historic lows. Those bonds trade well below face value because of their extreme duration.
For instance, the charitable foundation’s issue is priced at roughly 44.6 pence per pound, reflecting the inverse relationship between bond prices and yields. However, not all super‑long bonds survive; a well‑known retailer filed for bankruptcy just 23 years after issuing its century bond.
Alphabet’s 100‑year note arrives alongside a multi‑tranche U.S. dollar sale and plans for new notes in Swiss francs. The company’s last U.S. bond offering in November raised $17.5 billion, drawing $90 billion of orders and including a 50‑year bond—the longest corporate tech bond issued in dollars that year.
Capital expenditures are set to reach about $185 billion this year, double the previous year’s spend, to fund AI ambitions. Other tech leaders are announcing similar large‑scale spending, and a major investment bank forecasts that hyperscaler borrowing could hit $400 billion this year, up from $165 billion in 2025.
Despite the growing appetite for large debt issuances, a 100‑year bond is still likely to remain a rare event, even less common than many treasury offerings. Whether this will become a new norm in the future remains to be seen.
