Lenders harden terms on AI borrowers as CoreWeave, Nebius and Nscale are effectively shut out of the bond market

Wall Street is starting to call the shots in America’s artificial intelligence build-out¹. CoreWeave, Nebius and Nscale have effectively been shut out of the bond market as lenders harden their terms². The shift follows other distress signals, including a blow-out in CoreWeave’s credit default swaps and a broad investor rethink of the GPU-leasing model².

For at least one company weighing a high-yield bond offering, people familiar with the matter said, the decision on whether to issue will depend on interest from investors¹. Further down the credit ladder, CoreWeave’s 2031 high-yield bond yields 14.26%³.

Why it matters to investors

The pressure falls on companies built on the GPU-leasing model rather than on the largest technology companies, which are still borrowing heavily^2,4. Five hyperscalers issued $218.1 billion in bonds through early October, more than their $107.3 billion in issuance for all of 2025⁴. Trading in Nvidia’s single-name credit default swaps reached $6.9 billion over a six-month period⁴.

Bank of America’s Hartnett described tech bonds as diamonds in the rough, in a note that also set out why bondholders are gaining the upper hand³. That means investors who lend to the sector can now demand better terms from borrowers who need the money^2,3.

Concern is broader than individual companies⁵. Violent swings in semiconductor shares and ballooning AI-related debt are among the charts unsettling Wall Street, alongside inflation, inequality and debt⁵. Demand for deals has not disappeared: AI financing helped drive a $210 billion day of deals for Goldman⁶.

What to watch

Whether planned high-yield offerings go ahead, and at what price, will show how much leverage lenders now hold over GPU-leasing companies such as CoreWeave, Nebius and Nscale^1,2. Yields on bonds such as CoreWeave’s 2031 issue, and the cost of protection in the credit default swap market, are the most direct gauges^2,3,4.

The other marker is the pace of hyperscaler borrowing, which through early October had already exceeded last year’s full-year total of $107.3 billion, in contrast with the operators shut out of the bond market^2,4. High-yield spreads across the market as a whole are the backdrop for both⁵.