TOKYO –
SoftBank Group introduced on September 24 that it’ll subject roughly 1.76 trillion yen price of overseas currency-denominated bonds, the most important simultaneous bond providing in its historical past, to finance an extra $10 billion funding in OpenAI as founder Masayoshi Son accelerates his technique of constructing a world enterprise spanning synthetic intelligence, semiconductors and knowledge facilities.
The providing, geared toward abroad institutional buyers, consists of $10 billion in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and 1 billion euros in euro-denominated bonds. The proceeds will primarily fund the third and ultimate installment of a $30 billion extra funding in OpenAI introduced in February 2026, with fee scheduled for October 1.
The financing marks one other main step in SoftBank’s transformation from a telecommunications and web funding firm into one of many world’s largest buyers in AI. Son has spent the previous decade assembling a portfolio of companies masking the know-how wanted to develop, function and commercialize more and more refined AI methods.
An early milestone got here in 2016, when SoftBank acquired British semiconductor designer Arm for roughly 3.3 trillion yen. Although Arm was then greatest recognized for designing processors utilized in smartphones, Son considered its energy-efficient chip know-how as a basis for the following technology of computing, together with synthetic intelligence, linked gadgets and cloud infrastructure.
SoftBank expanded its know-how investments in 2017 with the launch of its first Vision Fund, which secured greater than $93 billion in preliminary commitments. The fund invested closely in know-how corporations throughout industries together with transportation, robotics, synthetic intelligence and monetary providers, giving SoftBank publicity to companies in search of to remodel established markets by way of digital know-how.
The firm subsequently established Vision Fund 2, rising its give attention to rising applied sciences and AI-related companies. Its portfolio has included corporations growing enterprise software program, machine studying purposes and the infrastructure wanted to help more and more highly effective AI methods.
SoftBank started investing straight in OpenAI in September 2024, marking a serious shift towards generative AI. Its investments subsequently expanded as the corporate behind ChatGPT sought extra capital to develop extra superior fashions and construct the computing infrastructure required to function them.
The funding technique accelerated in 2025, when SoftBank dedicated to a funding association of as much as $40 billion for OpenAI, with a part of the funding allotted to outdoors buyers. By the tip of December 2025, SoftBank had accomplished $30 billion in investments below the association, bringing its possession of OpenAI to roughly 11%.
SoftBank’s AI ambitions have prolonged past OpenAI. In July 2024, it acquired British AI chip developer Graphcore, strengthening its semiconductor capabilities alongside Arm. It additionally introduced a $6.5 billion acquisition of U.S. chip designer Ampere Computing in March 2025, bringing extra experience in processors designed for cloud computing and AI workloads.
The firm has sought to convey these semiconductor companies collectively as a part of a broader AI computing technique, positioning Arm, Graphcore and Ampere to produce applied sciences for the quickly increasing marketplace for AI processing.
Another main initiative emerged in January 2025, when SoftBank joined OpenAI, Oracle and funding agency MGX in saying the Stargate Project, an bold plan to take a position as much as $500 billion over 4 years in AI infrastructure within the United States. Under the association, SoftBank assumed monetary duty whereas OpenAI took duty for operations, with Son serving as chairman.
The partnership additionally prolonged to Japan, the place SoftBank and OpenAI introduced plans in February 2025 to develop Cristal intelligence, an enterprise AI platform meant to assist corporations combine superior AI into their operations.
SoftBank deepened its dedication to OpenAI in February 2026, saying an extra $30 billion funding divided into three installments of $10 billion every. The first two funds had been made in April and July, with the ultimate installment scheduled for October 1. Completion of the funding is predicted to convey SoftBank’s cumulative funding in OpenAI to roughly $64.6 billion, representing an possession stake of round 13%.
To finance the enlargement, SoftBank organized a $40 billion bridge mortgage facility in March 2026. The newest bond issuance will present funding for the remaining OpenAI fee whereas permitting the corporate to cancel $10 billion in unused borrowing capability below the ability.
The scale of the financing highlights the rising significance of OpenAI to SoftBank’s funding portfolio, alongside its semiconductor holdings and increasing AI infrastructure companies. It additionally will increase the corporate’s monetary publicity to the business success of AI know-how as Son continues to commit substantial sources to the sector.
Source: テレ東BIZ