Amazon hires banks for first ever sterling bond sale

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Amazon hired banks on Tuesday for its first ever sterling bond sale, according to a memo seen by Reuters, as hyperscalers rush to raise funding across currencies to finance the AI boom.

The tech giant is looking to sell 3-year, 6-year, 12-year and 19-year bonds, according to the memo from one of the banks arranging the sale.

The transaction may come as early as Wednesday, subject to market conditions, the memo added.

It did not specify how much money Amazon is looking to raise from the bonds.

Hyperscalers like Amazon are increasingly selling bonds across markets outside of the U.S. this year, from euros to Swiss francs and the yen, as they seek to diversify their financing sources given huge funding needs for the AI transition. 

The scale of their debt issuance is already testing the limits of investor demand, particularly in the U.S. dollar bond market, with some large bond buyers warning over the summer that the market is showing signs of indigestion.

Amazon's sterling bond sale follows that of Google-parent Alphabet, which raised £5.5 billion ($7.44 billion) from a five-part deal in the currency in February, which included a rare 100-year bond.

($1 = 0.7395 pounds)

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch, writing by Yoruk Bahceli; editing by Alun John and Amanda Cooper)