Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, has just pulled off a financial move so long-term it makes retirement planning look like a weekend getaway: issuing a rare 100-year bond in sterling pounds. This marks the first time a tech company has dared such an ultra-long maturity since Motorola tried it back in the dial-up era of 1997.
The bond forms part of Alphabet’s debut foray into the sterling market, alongside other pound-denominated tranches, with overwhelming demand already pouring in from investors who apparently believe AI will still need funding in the year 2126.
Pension funds and insurance companies, those paragons of planning for centuries rather than quarters, snapped up the offering with particular enthusiasm.
Alphabet’s 100-year note drew the highest bids among its sterling slices, proving that when it comes to locking in money for a literal lifetime-plus, nothing says “trust us” like a company whose main product today might be obsolete by 2050. Meanwhile, the broader borrowing binge signals that tech’s AI arms race is now financed on timelines usually reserved for cathedrals and government deficits.
Alphabet kicked off the week by pricing a hefty $20 billion multi-tranche bond deal in U.S. dollars, upsized from initial plans thanks to orders that reportedly exceeded $100 billion.
Hot on its heels came the sterling and Swiss franc debuts, with the sterling portion—including that eye-watering 100-year piece—pulling in record bids. Bankers from Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and NatWest handled the books as Alphabet tapped every corner of the globe for cash.
Why go this far out on the maturity curve? Simple: AI infrastructure does not come cheap. The company has signaled capital expenditures could hit $185 billion this year—double last year’s figure—to build data centers, buy chips, and keep pace in the intelligence race. Other hyperscalers like Meta and Microsoft are doing the same, with industry borrowing forecasts climbing steeply.
Yet the 100-year bond remains a quirky outlier. Most corporate borrowers avoid such extreme durations because technology evolves faster than fashion trends, and entire business models can vanish quicker than you can say “search engine.” Remember J.C. Penney’s century bond? It didn’t even make it halfway before bankruptcy proceedings began.
Still, strong demand from UK institutions hungry for long-dated paper made sterling the perfect venue. Previous century issuers in the currency were mostly governments, universities like Oxford, or charities—entities expected to outlast empires. Alphabet joining that list feels like the tech equivalent of a startup crashing a centenarians’ club.
Analysts note this won’t become routine anytime soon. Even in the Treasury market, 100-year bonds are more rumor than reality. For now, Alphabet has locked in funding that outlives most careers, most CEOs, and possibly most current AI hype cycles—while investors bet on a future where Google still answers questions in 2126.
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