Data center developers are seeking credit ratings even while facilities are under construction to unlock new capital; S&P, Moody's, and others expand coverage
Agencies are rushing to rate the debt of projects still under construction — Data centre developers are seeking credit ratings …
Context & Ripple Effects
Data-center financing was already scaling rapidly: global data-center debt issuance nearly doubled in 2025, while banks were marketing more than $56 billion of investment-grade construction loans linked to future Oracle leases. Seeking ratings before completion extends that funding playbook to an earlier, riskier phase of development.
The move matters because it puts S&P, Moody's, and peer agencies closer to the point where construction, leasing, and financing assumptions must be translated into a debt-market assessment. It is a concrete step in turning data-center buildouts into standardized credit products rather than bespoke developer financings.
First-order effects
- Developers can present a third-party credit assessment to prospective lenders and bond investors before a facility is operational, potentially widening their available capital sources during construction.
- S&P, Moody's, and other agencies gain a larger role in data-center financing, with ratings work centered on projects' build, lease, and cash-flow assumptions.
Second-order effects
- Investors and lenders get a common framework for comparing construction-stage projects, but ratings may also make differences in tenant quality, completion risk, and insurance more consequential to pricing and access.
- Developers whose projects cannot satisfy rating-agency requirements may face a narrower buyer base, especially as some investors have already declined data-center debt lacking sufficient risk insurance.
Third-order effects
- If pre-completion ratings become routine, more data-center construction debt could migrate toward repeatable public- and private-credit structures, reinforcing the financialization of AI infrastructure.
- The market may increasingly separate projects with durable contracted revenue and credible risk controls from those dependent on unproven delivery assumptions; that would make credit analysis a stronger gatekeeper of expansion.
The trend: Data-center buildouts are moving toward institutionalized project finance, with credit ratings becoming a key bridge between construction risk and broader capital markets.