❯ Tencent issues $1.8 billion and RMB 26 billion of long-term bonds with terms of up to 30 years

$5.7 billion raisedReuters reported on October 13 (via BusinessDay) that Tencent raised about $5.7 billion in dollar and offshore yuan bonds, above the at least $4.5 billion expected: $1.3 billion of 10-year and $500 million of 20-year dollar notes, plus RMB 20 billion of 10-year and RMB 6 billion of 30-year yuan notes at 2.40% and 3.00%.

Demand four times supplyOrders topped $23 billion, more than four times the final size. Strong demand let Tencent cut pricing: the 10-year dollar note priced 0.9 percentage point over Treasuries, 0.25 point tighter than initial guidance, and both yuan tranches came 0.5 point below initial guidance.

AI spending doublesThe terms say proceeds are for general corporate purposes. Offering documents show first-half 2026 capex of RMB 96.3 billion, more than double RMB 45.9 billion a year earlier, mainly on computing equipment, software and data centers. According to The Standard, it is Tencent’s second bond sale this year after about $4.66 billion in June.

Longer loans, less pressureData centers and compute need years of investment. Money repaid after 10 or 30 years means paying only interest each year, without a big principal bill soon. Moody’s and S&P are expected to rate the bonds A1 and A+, and that strong credit is why the 30-year yuan bond costs just 3%.

▮ SIGNALBig companies are building AI infrastructure like railways: with decades-long cheap debt for an asset that needs continuous investment.