US investment-grade bond sales are poised to set an annual record on Monday, surpassing the $1.75 trillion issued during the pandemic-fueled borrowing boom of 2020, as a surge in artificial intelligence spending drives companies to raise more debt.

Issuance will reach $1.76 trillion once the session’s deals price, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Many analysts had projected that volume would set an annual record this year, driven by expectations for soaring outlays on AI efforts.

More than $300 billion of AI-related funding has been raised in global high-grade markets so far in 2026, approaching three times the amount for all of 2025. Nine separate US offerings have totaled at least $25 billion each this year, with all but Skydance Corp.’s acquisition-related funding coming from technology companies.

“We are witnessing one of the most capital-intensive corporate cycles in a generation,” said Lindsay Rosner, head of multisector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

The borrowing boom has unfolded even as financing costs have risen and investors have repeatedly questioned whether the market can absorb even more issuance — and whether the massive investments being financed will ultimately pay off.

Four months have set records for issuance this year. Activity has slowed sharply in October, however, after some Treasury yields climbed to their highest levels since 2002 amid a global bond rout driven by inflation fears and concerns over how much the Federal Reserve may ultimately tighten monetary policy. Issuance stands at $79.9 billion this month, compared with this year’s low of $139.6 billion in July.

Recent volatility has repeatedly prompted companies to postpone bond sales in hopes of finding better borrowing conditions. Treasury yields have fallen more than 0.2 percentage point from their recent highs, but the average investment-grade spread ended last week near its widest level of 2026, offsetting some of the benefit from lower government yields.

Still, borrowers in the US and elsewhere have continued to sell debt to fund planned spending and acquisitions or refinance existing obligations. Some have moved ahead with deals to guard against the possibility that borrowing costs climb further in coming months.

The issuance rush isn’t unique to the US. Global publicly syndicated bond issuance is within $70 billion of the record $6.61 trillion raised last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Click here for Bloomberg News’ AI Debt Tracker Higher interest rates have contributed to a 1.49% loss for US investment-grade bonds this year through Friday, according to a Bloomberg index. Some newly issued debt sold off sharply in its first days of trading.

Those declines haven’t stopped investors from putting money into the asset class, helping companies continue to find buyers for new bonds. US short- and intermediate-term high-grade funds received about $235 billion of net inflows through September, according to LSEG Lipper data.

“Higher borrowing costs aren’t restricting behavior at the headline level,” and most activity tied to the AI buildout “is coming from largely rates-insensitive tech names,” said Tim Kurpis, head of investment-grade credit at AllianceBernstein. Meanwhile, “non-tech names are responding to higher rates, with more equity financing of M&A and less long-duration issuance.”While yields are rising now, the previous record came in a different environment.

In 2020, the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near zero and pledged to buy corporate debt as it sought to support markets and the economy during the Covid-19 shutdowns. Sales that year exceeded the previous record by some 30%. Last year’s $1.59 trillion total had been the highest since then.