Oracle Plans $50B Raise for Cloud, AI Growth

Oracle Corporation said it will raise between $45 billion and $50 billion in 2026 through a combination of debt and equity financing to fund the expansion of its cloud infrastructure and support growing artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, according to company statements and regulatory filings released this week. The capital-raising initiative is aimed at building additional Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) capacity to meet contracted demand from major technology customers in a rapidly evolving enterprise cloud market.

Oracle, the U.S. enterprise software and cloud services provider listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ORCL), intends to source roughly half of the targeted funding through equity-linked and common equity issuances, including mandatory convertible preferred securities and a newly authorised at-the-market (ATM) equity program of up to $20 billion. The remainder of the funding is expected to come from the issuance of investment-grade senior unsecured bonds early in the calendar year.

In a formal statement, Oracle said the proceeds will be deployed to expand the capacity of its OCI business to satisfy already-contracted commitments from large technology clients, specifically naming Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Meta Platforms, NVIDIA, OpenAI, TikTok and xAI among customers with demand for additional cloud infrastructure. The company said the approach seeks to balance growth financing with maintenance of its investment-grade credit profile.

The funding plan comes as Oracle has made a notable shift toward positioning OCI as a central growth engine in competition with larger hyperscale cloud providers, particularly in support of AI training and inference workloads, which require substantial computing capability. OCI revenue and AI workload bookings have drawn attention from clients seeking alternatives to other major cloud platforms.

Oracle’s planned raise follows a significant bond offering in September 2025, when the company issued $18 billion in long-term debt as part of earlier infrastructure financing. The current plan is structured differently by combining both equity and debt instruments to lessen concentration risk and preserve financial flexibility.

Industry observers note the size of the planned capital raise highlights the scale of investment required to keep pace with demand for data-intensive AI applications. Oracle’s previous quarterly financial reports have shown strong growth in cloud revenue and backlog, but also disclosure of increased capital expenditure to support data centre deployment and network expansion, reflecting heavier up-front spending to build out infrastructure for AI customers.

Market reaction to Oracle’s expanded AI and cloud spending has been mixed. While contracted demand and backlog figures have been robust, some investors have expressed concern about the pace of free cash flow burn and the company’s debt levels as capital requirements escalate. Metrics tied to the cost of insuring Oracle’s debt rose to multi-year highs late in 2025, signalling elevated credit risk perceptions among some fixed-income market participants. Oracle has faced at least one bondholder lawsuit alleging insufficient disclosure about its need for substantial additional financing to support the AI build-out.

Oracle executives have emphasised dedication to maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet even as the company deploys large amounts of capital into OCI expansion. The equity component of the plan, including the ATM program, is designed to be flexible and dependent on market conditions to mitigate potential dilution. The single large bond issuance scheduled for early 2026 represents the company’s expected full engagement with debt markets for the calendar year.

The planned funds will be used to build additional cloud capacity rather than for mergers and acquisitions or share repurchases, according to the company’s disclosures. The strategy reflects Oracle’s focus on scaling infrastructure to support enterprise AI workloads and cloud adoption, a sector seeing rapid uptake across industries but requiring significant capital investment to maintain competitive performance and service levels.

Oracle’s leadership, including Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison and other senior executives, has positioned the move as a necessary step to capitalise on contracted commitments and long-term demand for high-performance cloud services. The company’s filings report strong ongoing commitments from technology partners and customers that require expanded capacity to support continued growth in AI and cloud workloads.

The company’s large capital plan will be closely watched by investors and market analysts through 2026, particularly as execution of the debt and equity issuances unfolds and the expanded infrastructure capacity comes online to serve AI and cloud computing demand worldwide.