According to Zhitong Finance APP, at a time when AI computing infrastructure financing costs are significantly suppressing the overall valuations of the AI computing industry chain, new cloud players, and cloud computing giants, the impressive performance of the latest euro-denominated bond issuance by Meta Platforms Inc. (META.US), the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, demonstrates that global capital remains willing to provide financing for the long-term growth of high-quality technology companies.
As of Wednesday's U.S. stock market close, large technology giants with strong long-term fundamentals are becoming an important destination for the recovery of market risk appetite, driven by the combined effects of easing discount rate pressure amid a cooling U.S. dollar index and 10-year-plus Treasury yields, adjustments to capital expenditure expectations, and the market's reassessment of tech giants' competitive advantages in the AI agent era.
After Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress on November 4, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta rose 6.7%, 6.1%, 3.2%, and 1.4%, respectively. Expectations that fiscal expansion may face more constraints, combined with falling oil prices and retreating Treasury yields, provided important support for global tech stock valuations. Meanwhile, the market began trading another bullish logic grounded in the classic fundamental narrative under the AI wave: if data center construction pace becomes more prudent, it could ease the pressure on giants to continuously ramp up capital expenditures and increase the scarcity value of existing computing infrastructure. Large tech giants like Meta and Microsoft, with mature customer systems, application distribution channels, and abundant operating cash flow, are therefore better positioned to convert existing computing power into revenue and profit, attracting capital to reassess their long-term growth value.
The latest bond market statistics show that the quoted prices of Meta Platforms' newly issued euro bonds have risen significantly above face value. During Wednesday's European market trading session, this issuance attracted investor subscription orders that set a record for corporate bond issuance across the entire European market. According to a series of data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence, the indicative bond market quotes for all six tranches of Meta's issuance on Thursday rose sharply, with even the bid quotes—the prices at which traders are willing to buy the bonds—exceeding face value. The major investment banks arranging Wednesday's 9 billion euro (approximately 10.1 billion U.S. dollars) issuance had generally priced each tranche at slightly below 100 cents per 1 euro of face value at the time of issuance. This price increase came after Meta completed a record-breaking bond issuance, with subscription orders reaching 620 billion euros, far exceeding the 31 billion euro bond subscription record set by AB InBev ten years ago.
The subscription orders continued to grow because the spreads offered in this issuance were far higher than those offered by other hyperscale technology companies that had previously issued euro bonds, closer to the spreads offered by bonds with credit ratings several notches below Meta's AA rating. Meta and other hyperscale tech companies have recently offered attractive yields when issuing bonds to attract investors who are increasingly skeptical about whether massive AI spending can generate sustained strong cash returns. Although investors eagerly subscribed to Meta's bond issuance, they are becoming increasingly selective about AI-related bonds overall, especially those issued by highly leveraged new cloud tech companies and tech companies with persistently negative cash flow. Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, issued euro bonds on Monday, and Bloomberg Intelligence's latest compiled indicative quotes today also showed prices above face value.
Amid high AI financing costs, the 620 billion euro subscription scale voting for the tech giant Meta's euro bonds—with all six tranches' bid quotes standing above face value on the first day of listing—provides a credit market echo for this risk appetite recovery. The 9 billion euro issuance corresponded to approximately 6.9 times subscription, reflecting both the appeal of higher issuance spreads and the fact that global investors remain willing to bear long-term credit risk for high-quality tech giants; Alphabet's euro bond issuance during the same period also received quotes above face value, further highlighting the strong AI financing capacity of large technology platforms.
From the perspective of the specific capital rotation and investment mechanisms behind rising risk appetite, stable bond demand means financing channels remain open, while a more rational construction pace could improve future free cash flow expectations—both together enhancing tech giants' ability to navigate this AI investment cycle. It is evident that the current recovery in risk appetite has a distinct quality orientation—global capital is beginning to re-emphasize platform companies that can sustain financing, effectively deploy computing power, and convert AI demand into commercial returns. Microsoft, Meta, Google's parent Alphabet, Tencent, and Alibaba, among other large tech giants, have therefore become important observation windows for this round of valuation recovery.
This is why, in the view of some analysts who have long been bullish on tech giants, Meta's 9 billion euro bond issuance with a subscription scale of approximately 6.9 times the issuance amount is not contradictory to the adjustment in AI computing, semiconductors, and new cloud companies: as 10-year Treasury yields and AI financing costs remain persistently high at historical levels after surging, investors are重新 distinguishing between companies that rely on external financing for continuous expansion and platform giants with massive operating cash flow, mature business models, and diversified financing channels. The higher issuance spread offered by Meta attracted capital, and the post-listing price increase further demonstrated that this batch of bonds was well received by the market.
This divergence is also occurring amid a rare sharp correction in global technology assets: the Nasdaq 100 Index has entered a technical correction zone, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has fallen about 25% over the past month, entering a bear market. South Korea's KOSPI Index fell 16.19% in October and dropped another 5.3% on November 5, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix falling 7.6% and 9.4% respectively that day, indicating that the sell-off has penetrated into memory chips, the most core link in the AI computing infrastructure construction process. Google's parent Alphabet had previously plunged 12.6% on October 29, and Intel fell nearly 29% the next day, its worst single-day performance since 1974.
From financing anxiety to cash flow stratification, Wall Street begins searching for new pivots amid the tech stock recovery. At the core of the "AI computing sell-off storm" and "AI bubble burst narrative" is the most heavily sold stock—AI new cloud leader CoreWeave (CRWV.US), which has faced even more direct selling pressure: its stock fell 9.90% on November 4, closing at $48.42. The yield on its 2031-maturing dollar bonds once exceeded 16% on October 15; on the same day, its five-year CDS rose to 1,194.5 basis points intraday, corresponding to a market-implied five-year cumulative default probability exceeding 60%. This probability includes a risk premium and is not a direct prediction of the actual default rate. For new cloud enterprises, equipment procurement, interest, and construction expenditures come first, while computing delivery and customer payments come later; approval, power access, or deployment delays can widen funding gaps, and high benchmark rates and credit spreads further increase the cost of new financing and refinancing. Large platforms are also affected by rising financing costs, but their existing business cash flow and financing channels create a clear distinction in credit risk from highly leveraged new clouds.
Democrats winning control of Congress has also brought data center construction pace into pricing. The market worries that approvals, energy, and construction constraints may tighten, but this is currently mainly a policy expectation and cannot be directly equated with comprehensive restrictions on AI construction. On November 4, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.1%, while the S&P 500 Index rose about 1.6%, with Amazon and Alphabet rising 6.1% and 3.2% respectively: suppliers face the risk of delayed order fulfillment, while platform companies may benefit from capital expenditure constraints, the scarcity of existing computing power, and a more rational investment pace. Meanwhile, expectations of fiscal constraints and cooling inflation expectations pushed the 10-year Treasury yield down from 4.951% the previous day to 4.891%. Therefore, the pressure from previously high financing costs remains, but the marginal changes after the election have begun to favor the valuation recovery of high-quality technology assets.
Wall Street's attitude is also shifting. Deutsche Bank has turned bullish on U.S. tech stocks again, believing that the recent correction has been excessive, with valuations and positioning cooling while earnings growth remains resilient; Morgan Stanley's chief U.S. equity strategist Mike Wilson believes that this round of correction is nearing its end and recommends focusing on high-quality companies whose valuations have already declined and whose earnings sustainability is strong. The opportunity they both point to is the re-matching of adjusted prices with long-term operating growth quality, rather than a synchronized rebound across all AI assets.
Pershing Square, led by Ackman, further pointed out in its latest shareholder letter that the market may be treating massive AI capital expenditures as permanent without fully accounting for the subsequent revenue acceleration these investments will bring; large tech companies' customer relationships, data, distribution channels, and commercialization capabilities make it easier to convert new computing power into chargeable services. Ackman's latest judgment is already supported by strong AI-related cloud computing business growth: Amazon's AWS revenue grew 39.3% in the third quarter, and Alphabet's Google Cloud revenue grew 103%, the latter including significant TPU system sales contributions. The hot sales of Meta's bonds have added a financing link to this bullish logic: when revenue growth, financing availability, and investment returns gradually connect, high-quality platforms will have the foundation to move from valuation compression to value reassessment.
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