Spending on data centers by Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft has grown large enough that several now report negative free cash flow and are raising money through bond sales, equity and joint ventures with asset managers. Credit rating agencies say the pace is starting to weigh on credit quality, though the four still hold very high ratings. Oracle, which has burned cash for five straight quarters, was already downgraded to the lowest investment-grade tier in July.
What changed
The largest cloud companies funded data centers from their own cash and held very strong, low-debt balance sheets.
- Meta Q2 free cash flow down 91%
- Alphabet capex $44.9B, first cash outflow
- ~$960B capex vs ~$905B cash flow in 2027
- Oracle cut to BBB-
Sources