SoftBank's Strategic Pivot: A Massive Bet on OpenAI's Future

SoftBank secures a $40B loan, sells assets like Nvidia, and invests $30B in OpenAI to gain a 13% stake, part of a massive $120B funding round valuing OpenAI at $850B.

In a decisive move to solidify its standing within the artificial intelligence sector, SoftBank Group Corp. is undertaking a radical financial restructuring. The Japanese technology conglomerate is channeling vast resources, including proceeds from a major unsecured loan and the sale of significant holdings, toward a single strategic objective: deepening its stake in OpenAI.

A Financial Overhaul to Fund AI Ambitions

To fuel this ambition, SoftBank secured a substantial $40 billion bridge loan on Friday from a consortium of leading financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. This twelve-month facility is primarily earmarked for AI investment. A dominant portion, approximately $30 billion, will be directed through the Vision Fund 2 into a new funding round for OpenAI. This injection is set to elevate SoftBank's total investment in the AI pioneer to $64.6 billion, securing an estimated 13% ownership stake.

Funding this aggressive push required notable portfolio adjustments beforehand. The company's management executed significant divestments to raise capital. Notably, SoftBank liquidated its entire remaining stake in Nvidia for $5.8 billion late in 2025. It also offloaded T-Mobile shares valued at more than $3.5 billion. These transactions highlight the intense focus CEO Masayoshi Son has placed on the developer of ChatGPT, even at the cost of other high-profile assets.

Unprecedented Valuation and Parallel Infrastructure Push

OpenAI's current capital raise is a landmark event, aiming to gather roughly $120 billion in total. Contributions from other technology giants like Amazon and Nvidia are part of this effort, driving the company's valuation to as high as $850 billion.

Concurrently, SoftBank is advancing substantial physical infrastructure projects to support AI growth. The group plans a massive AI data center in Ohio, a project with a total investment scope of $500 billion. While SoftBank will not bear this cost alone, the initial construction phase through early 2028 is projected to consume up to $40 billion.

As SoftBank builds out infrastructure, OpenAI is refining its own expenditure strategy. The AI firm now plans to invest $600 billion in computing power by 2030, a marked reduction from earlier plans that reached into the trillions. With a current user base exceeding 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers, the industry's emphasis is shifting toward financial discipline and scaling existing cloud partnerships.