For the past two years, the easiest way to play artificial intelligence was to buy the companies building the technology. Nvidia (NVDA) became the face of the AI boom as hyperscalers raced to buy graphics processing units, build data centers and expand computing capacity.

But a new question is emerging on Wall Street: How will all of this be financed?

The answer is increasingly pointing investors away from semiconductors and toward the bond market.

Nvidia May Be Signaling the Next Phase of the AI Boom

Earlier this week, Nvidia raised $25 billion through a bond offering, its first major corporate debt issuance in years. The deal reportedly attracted roughly $85 billion of investor demand, underscoring the appetite for AI-related credit.

The move is notable because Nvidia is hardly a company struggling for cash. The chipmaker has become one of the most profitable companies in the world thanks to surging demand for AI infrastructure.

If even Nvidia sees value in tapping debt markets, investors are beginning to ask what that means for the broader industry.

The answer may be simple: AI is becoming too expensive to fund with cash alone.

Trillions of Dollars Need to Be Raised

The scale of spending expected over the next several years is staggering.

JPMorgan recently estimated that AI infrastructure spending could reach roughly $5.5 trillion through 2030. More importantly, the bank believes approximately $4.1 trillion of that total could ultimately be financed through debt.

That shift is already visible.

Oracle (ORCL) recently outlined plans to raise roughly $40 billion through debt and equity financing as it pursues an aggressive AI infrastructure buildout. Meta Platforms (META) has also explored financing options tied to its growing AI ambitions.

The trend suggests Wall Street's next AI winners may not be limited to companies designing chips or operating data centers.

Who Benefits If AI Becomes a Credit Story?

For years, investors focused on the companies selling AI hardware.

The next phase could create opportunities for a different group of beneficiaries, including investment banks, private-credit firms and institutional lenders, helping finance the industry's unprecedented capital spending cycle.

Companies such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) could play a growing role as AI developers seek new sources of funding. Private-capital firms, including Apollo Global Management (APO), Blackstone (BX) and Blue Owl Capital (OWL), may also find themselves increasingly tied to the buildout.

For investors, the shift represents a subtle but important change.

The first phase of the AI boom was about who could build the most powerful chips. The next phase may be about who can finance the infrastructure required to use them.