Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank Group is in talks with multiple lenders for a record $40 billion loan, largely aimed at financing its investment in artificial intelligence leader OpenAI, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources.
The 12-month tenure bridge loan would be SoftBank’s largest dollar-denominated borrowing yet, they said, adding that four banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Company will be underwriting the facility.
Son’s aggressive moves in AI space
The report further noted that the potential size of the loan emphasizes Son’s continued “aggressive bid” to position SoftBank as the nucleus of the booming AI space. The company aims to invest $30 billion in OpenAI, over the $30 billion already infused.
Till December 2025, the investment holding company had 11% stake in the Sam Altman led ChatGPT maker and even sold stake in Jensen Huang’s blockbuster chip company Nvidia Corporation to fund the infusion.
OpenAI now represents SoftBank’s largest holding outside of Arm Holdings (90% stake), while its funding of other businesses slows down. Its shares are now tethered to ChatGPT’s relative performance against Google’s (Alphabet) Gemini and Anthropic PBC’s Claude, which have been steadily gaining market share.
- Apart from the ChatGPT maker, SoftBank and OpenAI have jointly invested $1 billion in data centre infrastructure company SB Energy.
- It has also agreed to buy private equity firm DigitalBridge Group Inc. for about $3 billion in cash.
- In 2025, it bought US chip designer Ampere Computing LLC for $6.5 billion and proposed a $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB Ltd.’s robotics unit.
All these investments underscore the need for the tech investor to take on large sums of debt. The company has already increased the amount of its margin loans secured by mobile unit SoftBank Corp. and chip unit Arm, the report added.
Concerns over AI bubble persists
The report noted that risk bets are not unusual for Son, who’s early investments in ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) and Alibaba paid off. The price however was not so dire, it added.
Watchers however are concerned over the potential AI bubble burst, and S&P this week lowered SoftBank’s credit outlook, citing the danger that its investments in OpenAI may hurt the Japanese company’s liquidity and the credit quality of its assets.
Bloomberg analyst Sharon Chen said that SoftBank’s $30 billion investment in OpenAI is a further drag to its credit profile, with the company facing limited headroom under S&P’s 35% adjusted LTV threshold.
“It has been relying on debt and asset sales to fund more than $70 billion of AI investments since 2025, resulting in a large debt burden and weaker portfolio quality. An uncertain macro backdrop and concerns around an AI bubble poses risk to SoftBank’s LTV and the timing of an OpenAI listing — a key positive catalyst,” she said.
Chen added, “SoftBank needs to raise as much as $40 billion this year. It benefits from strong access to the yen market and can raise more than $10 billion from the sale of T-Mobile and listed tech stocks, excluding Arm. Its bonds are likely to remain volatile, with supply risk and potential risk-off posing spread widening pressure.”
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
- SoftBank aims to solidify its position in the AI market through substantial investments, particularly in OpenAI.
- The $40 billion loan reflects both ambition and risk, highlighting the challenges of funding large-scale tech ventures.
- Market observers express concerns over the sustainability of SoftBank’s investments amidst fears of an AI bubble.
