Chinese search engine company Baidu Inc paid a lower interest rate than Google Inc when it sold US$ 750 million in 10-year bonds last month.

China’s three dominant dot-com names – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd – have successfully tapped global funding this year, stockpiling a combined US$ 6 billion in debt despite investor scepticism about opaque Chinese companies.

The big three plan to use the money to pad their industry advantage at home, to compete better abroad, and perhaps to buy cash-starved rivals.