Surging yields have slowed Asian dollar bond sales, with no issuers from the region selling dollar bonds in the syndicated market this month and Q3 debt sales slumping 10% to $88 billion. Global government bond selloffs have made deal-making harder across regions. Asian markets have seen fewer AI-linked offerings compared to the US, where Alphabet and Amazon each raised $25 billion in Q3.
Bankers expect Q4 deal volumes to be flat or down versus $40 billion in the same period of 2025, after Asian dollar note yields hit 6.1%—the highest since 2024. Japanese issuers led Q3 activity at nearly 40% of regional dollar bond volume, followed by Indian (16%) and South Korean (15%) issuers, while mainland China fell to under 7%. SoftBank’s $10 billion dollar-denominated fundraising was one of the few large AI-related debt deals in Asia this year.
The syndicated loan market remains the primary AI funding source in Asia, with $32.6 billion in data center-linked loans so far this year, surpassing 2025’s $21.5 billion. Onshore bond funding remains cheaper for top-rated Chinese firms, with local-currency yields under 1.8% for seven-year or shorter tenors. Analysts note emerging interest from data center companies in the dollar bond market, signaling potential future growth.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing