Nov 14 (Reuters) - Oracle Corp ( ORCL ) bonds have taken a hit in

recent days following a report that the cloud and artificial

intelligence service provider plans to add another $38 billion

to its heavy debt load to fund its AI infrastructure, according

to analysts and investors.

Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

Oracle has invested billions of dollars to build out its cloud

and AI infrastructure this year. With roughly $104 billion in

debt outstanding, including $18 billion in bonds, the company is

spending more than it earns from operations as it bets on future

profits through contracts with startups such as Sam Altman-owned

OpenAI.

"So what's interesting is most of the (major tech) companies are

trying to sustain their (stock) buyback programs at the same

time that they're spending on capex currently and to do that,

they're actually borrowing and so they're using debt," said Lisa

Shalett, chief investment officer of Morgan Stanley Wealth

Management.

Renewed questions around the safety of this bet appeared to have

surfaced in trading of Oracle's bonds this week, following

reporting by CNBC on Thursday that Oracle plans to assume an

additional $38 billion in debt.

The price of Oracle's bonds maturing in 2033 with a 4.9% coupon

has dipped, pushing yields up more than three basis points over

the last two weeks, while the yield on its newer bonds maturing

in 2032 with a 4.8% coupon has risen almost two basis points in

one week, according to market participants.

"There's definitely some selling pressure," said Stu Novick,

tech sector credit analyst at corporate bond research firm Gimme

Credit.

"The numbers are enormous (and) a lot of people are asking

how are they actually make money on this stuff."