Baidu Inc., the operator of China’s dominant search engine, is preparing to issue approximately 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in offshore bonds, according to sources familiar with the matter. This marks the company’s first bond offering since 2021 and follows a series of recent debt issuances by Chinese technology companies.
The bond deal will include two tranches: a five-year note with a yield ranging from 2.6% to 2.8%, and a ten-year security offering a yield between 2.8% and 3.0%. The pricing could occur as early as Wednesday. Initially, Baidu had planned to raise at least 4 billion yuan, but the size of the offering has been increased.
The timing of this bond issuance is significant as Baidu is set to repay a $600 million bond on April 7.
Baidu’s move is part of a broader trend of Chinese tech giants tapping debt markets. In November, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. raised around $5 billion in dollar and yuan bonds, marking its first public bond issuance in nearly four years after a $5 billion private convertible bond sale earlier in May.
These financing activities come amid a rapidly accelerating wave of AI development, with major companies like OpenAI and Alibaba releasing AI models at a breakneck pace. This surge in technological innovation has been highlighted by DeepSeek’s recent breakthrough, which has drawn significant attention by rivaling the leading AI models from OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc.
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