SoftBank eyes big debt to fund AI push

SoftBank is trying to fund an artificial intelligence sprint with debt from two directions at once: a new euro bond from its telecom unit in Europe and a separate ¥600 billion, or about $4.1 billion, retail bond sale in Japan. The timing comes just days after the group lined up a $40 billion bridge loan tied to its expanding OpenAI investment. (bloomberg.com) (softbank.jp) (reuters.com) That bridge loan is huge even by SoftBank standards. Reuters reported on March 27 that the company secured $40 billion for OpenAI-related investing and general corporate purposes, with an initial closing of $10 billion in April 2026 and an option to expand by another $10 billion. (reuters.com) The reason SoftBank needs that much cash is simple: it agreed to invest another $30 billion in OpenAI, on top of earlier commitments that brought its total planned exposure to about $64.6 billion. Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings said that bigger OpenAI position makes SoftBank’s investment portfolio less liquid because OpenAI is private and cannot be sold as easily as listed shares. (spglobal.com) (techcrunch.com) That is why the debt raise is happening in two markets. Bloomberg reported that SoftBank Corp., the telecom subsidiary, is preparing its first euro-denominated bond, while the parent group is also leaning on Japan’s household bond market, where retail investors have often funded past SoftBank deals. (bloomberg.com) (softbank.jp) SoftBank has used this playbook before, but the scale is different now. In its fiscal 2025 report, the group said total assets were ¥45.0 trillion and equity attributable to owners was ¥11.6 trillion, which means every large new borrowing decision now lands on a balance sheet already built around big, concentrated technology bets. (softbank.com 1) (softbank.com 2) The ratings pressure is already visible. On March 3, Standard & Poor’s revised SoftBank Group’s outlook to negative from stable while affirming its BB+ rating, saying liquidity would worsen because OpenAI now makes up a bigger share of the portfolio. (spglobal.com) (softbank.com) A negative outlook is not a downgrade, but it is a warning light. Standard & Poor’s said it could cut the rating if SoftBank’s loan-to-value ratio stays high or if the quality of the assets backing its borrowings weakens, which is what happens when lenders are financing stakes in private companies instead of cash-generating businesses. (spglobal.com) Masayoshi Son has been moving SoftBank back toward giant founder-led bets after years of trying to look more disciplined. The company is now tying together OpenAI, Arm, and the $500 billion Stargate artificial intelligence infrastructure project announced in January 2025 with OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. (openai.com) (reuters.com) That strategy can work if OpenAI’s value keeps rising or if an initial public offering arrives before the debt gets uncomfortable. It gets harder if private valuations cool, because interest on bonds and bridge loans has to be paid in cash long before paper gains on an unlisted stake turn into money. (spglobal.com) (techcrunch.com) So the story is not just that SoftBank wants more artificial intelligence exposure. It is that SoftBank is trying to turn Europe’s bond market, Japan’s retail savers, and bank bridge financing into one giant funding machine for a private artificial intelligence bet that ratings agencies already see as a strain. (bloomberg.com) (spglobal.com) (reuters.com)