SoftBank funds AI push

SoftBank is borrowing in two places at once: Europe and Japan. In Europe, its telecom unit is preparing its first euro bond sale, and in Japan, SoftBank Group just priced ¥418 billion of hybrid bonds for retail investors at a 4.97% initial five-year coupon. (bloomberg.com 1) (bloomberg.com 2) That is happening because Masayoshi Son is spending like a company racing to build a new empire. On March 27, SoftBank said it had signed a $40 billion bridge loan to finance its OpenAI investment and related costs, adding a 12-month borrowing on top of its existing debt load. (bloomberg.com) A bridge loan is short-term money, like putting a giant purchase on a credit card while you figure out the permanent financing later. SoftBank is now trying to replace part of that temporary money with longer-dated bonds sold to European institutions and Japanese households. (bloomberg.com 1) (bloomberg.com 2) The debt is getting expensive enough that credit agencies are flashing yellow. S&P Global Ratings recently revised SoftBank Group’s outlook to negative, and Fitch assigned the proposed euro notes a BBB+ rating, which is still investment grade but only a few steps above junk. (letsdatascience.com) (fitchratings.com) SoftBank has done this before, but the scale is different now. Bloomberg reported in October 2025 that the group raised about $2.9 billion in dollar and euro hybrid bonds to fund artificial intelligence investments, and the April 2026 yen deal came at the highest coupon SoftBank has paid on that kind of retail hybrid debt. (bloomberg.com 1) (bloomberg.com 2) The other piece of the story is Arm, the chip designer SoftBank still controls. Arm’s designs sit inside most smartphone processors and an increasing share of data-center chips, so if SoftBank wants a bigger position in artificial intelligence hardware, Arm is the part of the group that knows where the silicon bottlenecks are. (cnbc.com) Now Rene Haas, Arm’s chief executive, may get a wider job inside SoftBank itself. Reports on April 9 said Haas could take charge of much of SoftBank’s international business while still running Arm, tying the company that designs chips more directly to the company that is raising cash to fund artificial intelligence bets. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) (invezz.com) That combination tells you what Son is trying to build. He is not just buying stakes in artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI; he is trying to line up the money, the chips, and the operating control in one place before rivals lock up the market. (bloomberg.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The risk is simple: if artificial intelligence profits arrive late, the interest bill arrives anyway. SoftBank can keep refinancing as long as bond buyers and banks believe Arm, OpenAI, and Son’s broader artificial intelligence push will eventually throw off enough cash to justify the leverage. (letsdatascience.com) (fitchratings.com)