On February 2, with the support of US investment banks such as Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, apple issued $14 billion < a target = "_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E5%80%BA%E5%88%B8 "> bonds < / a >, to raise funds by using the current cheap borrowing costs for enterprise operation and repurchase < a target ="_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E8%82%A1%E7%A5%A8 "> shares < / a >, and return more < a target ="_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E7%8E%B0%E9%87%91 "> cash < / a >. < / P > < p > according to people familiar with the matter, Apple has issued a total of six parts of bonds this time, of which the longest issue is 40 year bonds, with a yield ratio of < a target = "_ blank" href=" https://news.163.com/news/search?keyword=%E7%BE%8E%E5%9B%BD%E5%9B%BD%E5%80%BA "> US Treasury bonds < / a > are 95 basis points higher (1 basis point is one in ten thousand), less than the original expectation of 115-120 basis points. < / P > < p > this is the third time Apple has used the market to issue bonds since May 2020. Apple issued $8 billion of bonds in May last year and $5.5 billion in August. Between 2017 and 2020, apple issued no more than once a year in the U.S. market. < p > < p > according to trace, Apple's outstanding 40 year bonds (i.e. bonds maturing in 2060 with a yield of 2.55%) widened by 5 basis points on Monday, about 89 basis points higher than that of US Treasury bonds. Bondholders usually sell their positions to make room for new bonds, which usually bring higher yields. < / P > < p > according to the data of the index, the average loan interest rate of investment grade companies is 1.86%, with a maturity of about nine years, which is lower than 1.94% when Apple last issued bonds in August 2020. < / P > < p > Apple said the funds will be used for general corporate purposes, including share buybacks and dividend payments. The money could also be used for working capital, capital expenditure, acquisitions and debt repayment, people familiar with the matter said. < / P > < p > Apple eventually borrowed more than the $10 billion predicted by research firm CreditSights and other institutions. According to the latest quarterly data, apple raised $14 billion in cash, more than 93% of the balance sheets of non-financial companies in the standard & Poor's 500 index. < / P > < p > after years of hoarding cash, Apple has been trying to reduce its net cash position (the sum of all available funds), mainly by paying dividends to shareholders. Nevertheless, the data suggest that the company may need to expand its annual shareholder return to more than $100bn to achieve its net cash neutral target in the next few years. (small)