CoreWeave, Oracle and SoftBank debt costs rise amid AI borrowing concerns

Bond prices for CoreWeave and Oracle have fallen while the cost of insuring SoftBank debt has risen, according to a New York Times report published by The Business Times. The premium investors demand for riskier AI debt investments has increased by more than 50% over the past six months, according to Barclays.

CoreWeave, which has accumulated $72 billion in liabilities while operating 51 data centres, recorded a sharp drop in its bond prices. Market pricing placed the probability that the company would fail to meet its obligations at more than 60%.

Debt tied to Oracle data centre projects has also traded at discounts. Some of the $38 billion Oracle borrowed in 2025 for data centres in Texas and Port Washington, Wisconsin, has traded around $0.90 on the dollar or lower after power grid approvals delayed the Wisconsin complex. Debt tied to a New Mexico project traded at about $0.80 on the dollar amid permitting problems.

SoftBank completed another $30 billion investment in OpenAI on October 1 after raising $11 billion in debt at interest rates near 10% in September. The annual cost of insuring $1 million of SoftBank debt has risen above $40,000, compared with less than $27,000 at the start of 2026.