AI Junk-Bond Binge Brings Rare Early Repayments to Sweeten Deals

As a more than $20 billion borrowing frenzy to build out data centers descended on the junk-bond market this year, some issuers offered up a rare sweetener: an early cash payback.

Borrowers from cloud infrastructure firm Core Scientific Inc. to data center operator Cipher Digital Inc. are agreeing to return the billions they’ve borrowed at a much faster rate using a feature known as annual amortization, where a percentage of outstanding debt is repaid each year.