AMD raises $4.75bn in its biggest ever bond sale

AMD Raises $4.75 Billion in Biggest Bond Sale Ever

AMD has raised $4.75 billion in its largest ever US dollar bond offering, sold in four tranches with maturities ranging from three to ten years. The strong demand resulted in the longest tranche pricing about a quarter of a percentage point tighter than initially expected, at 0.9 points over Treasuries.

A Strong Financial Position

At the end of June, AMD held $13.1 billion in cash and short-term investments against $3.2 billion of debt, reflecting an unusually clean balance sheet for a chipmaker of its size.

Commitment to Anthropic

Despite this robust financial position, AMD has made a significant commitment, agreeing to invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic and partnering to deploy as much as two gigawatts of its Instinct MI450 chips to power Claude.

The Funding and Its Context

The bond sale raises $4.75 billion, while the Anthropic commitment stands at up to $5 billion. This fits within the broader trend in the AI industry where suppliers fund their customers, as seen with Google's investment in Anthropic and Nvidia's discussions regarding guarantees for OpenAI’s data center debt.

Analysts project AMD revenue to surge 47% this year, surpassing $51 billion, thanks to deals with both Anthropic and Microsoft.

This recent bond offering is part of a larger trend: Big Tech's AI debt has exceeded $350 billion, with investment-grade issuers now comprising a substantial portion of this total. Six banks, including JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America, facilitated this deal, AMD's third investment-grade market venture since March 2025, when it raised $1.5 billion.

A company spokesperson emphasized AMD's commitment to maintaining its strong financial balance sheet. However, the question remains: what drives a chipmaker with $13 billion in cash to seek another $4.75 billion?