Apollo Global Positions for AI Debt Boom as Startups Abandon Equity-Only Funding

Apollo Global Management, the $1 trillion asset manager, is betting that artificial intelligence startups will turn to debt financing far sooner than previous generations of software companies—and it is repositioning itself to capitalize on the trend. The shift reflects a fundamental economic reality: building large-scale AI infrastructure requires capital expenditures so massive that equity financing alone cannot sustain them. Whereas traditional software companies could operate lean with modest server costs, AI companies need to purchase billions of dollars in specialized chips before generating meaningful revenue, forcing them to seek debt markets earlier in their lifecycle.