SoftBank Group Seeks Record $40 Bn Loan to Double Down on OpenAI Bet

SoftBank Group, led by billionaire investor Masayoshi Son, is in talks with several lenders to raise a record $40 billion loan aimed largely at financing its expanding investment in artificial intelligence leader OpenAI, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.

The proposed 12-month bridge loan would mark SoftBank’s largest dollar-denominated borrowing to date. Four banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, are expected to underwrite the facility, the report said.

Son’s Aggressive AI Push

The potential scale of the financing reflects Son’s increasingly aggressive push to position SoftBank at the centre of the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry.

SoftBank aims to invest around $30 billion more into OpenAI, adding to the tens of billions it has already committed to the company behind ChatGPT.

As of December 2025, the Japanese investment group held roughly an 11% stake in OpenAI, led by chief executive Sam Altman. To support that investment, SoftBank had previously sold shares in chipmaker Nvidia, run by Jensen Huang.

OpenAI has now become SoftBank’s largest investment outside of Arm Holdings, in which the group owns a roughly 90% stake. The company’s fortunes are increasingly tied to OpenAI’s competitive position against rivals such as Google’s Gemini models and Anthropic’s Claude systems.

SoftBank has also expanded its AI ecosystem through several related investments. The group and OpenAI have jointly committed $1 billion to a data-centre infrastructure venture backed by SB Energy.

Beyond artificial intelligence, SoftBank has continued to pursue large technology acquisitions. It has agreed to acquire infrastructure investment firm DigitalBridge Group for about $3 billion in cash.

In 2025, the company also purchased US chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion and proposed a $5.4 billion acquisition of the robotics division of ABB Ltd.

Growing Debt and AI Bubble Concerns

The scale of these deals highlights the extent to which SoftBank has relied on borrowing and asset sales to fund its AI ambitions.

According to the Bloomberg report, the company has expanded margin loans secured against its holdings in SoftBank Corp. and Arm as it raises capital for new investments.

Large, high-risk bets are not unusual for Son. Earlier investments in companies such as ByteDance—the parent of TikTok—and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group delivered huge returns for the group.

However, analysts have warned that the scale of SoftBank’s current AI spending could increase financial risks if the sector cools. Ratings agency S&P Global Ratings recently lowered its outlook on SoftBank’s credit profile, citing concerns that its growing exposure to OpenAI and broader AI investments could weaken liquidity and asset quality.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sharon Chen said SoftBank has already relied on debt and asset disposals to finance more than $70bn of AI investments since 2025.

The strategy has increased the group’s debt burden and raised questions about portfolio quality, particularly as investors debate whether the rapid surge in AI funding could eventually give way to a market correction.

Uncertainty around the timing of a potential OpenAI initial public offering—seen as a major catalyst for SoftBank—could also affect the company’s leverage ratios, Chen noted in the report.

For now, however, Son appears determined to keep doubling down on artificial intelligence, betting that the technology will define the next era of global computing.