By Sherry Qin
Kuaishou Technology is hitting the debt market with its maiden U.S. dollar bond issuance, joining other Chinese companies moving to shore up funding as global investment in artificial intelligence accelerates.
The Beijing-based tech company plans to raise a total of US$1.49 billion from U.S. dollar-denominated senior notes due 2031 with 4.125% and 4.750% coupons, it said in an exchange filing early Friday.
Kuaishou, which operates China's second-largest short-video platform after TikTok's sister app Douyin, will also issue 3.50 billion yuan, or $502.4 million, in offshore yuan bonds due 2031 with a 2.45% coupon.
The company said it intends to use the net proceeds primarily for general corporate purposes.
The offering comes as Chinese tech companies have turned to bond markets to raise funds as they pour billions into AI investments.
Tencent raised $1.27 billion through a yuan-denominated dim sum bond last September while search-engine giant Baidu sold $618 million of debt in a dim sum bond offering earlier that month.
Kuaishou's AI efforts have largely centered on its video-generation tool Kling AI, which it hopes will help creators and businesses produce more attractive and engaging content and ads.
Fitch Ratings rated Kuaishou's proposed senior notes at A-, saying it expects the company to maintain strong positions in short-video, live-streaming and content-based e-commerce services in China.
However, Kuaishou's relatively short record of profitable growth is weighing on its ratings, especially given fierce competition in China's rapidly evolving internet sector, Fitch said.
Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2026 21:15 ET (02:15 GMT)
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