Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank Group is in talks with a number of lenders for a file $40 billion mortgage, largely aimed toward financing its funding in synthetic intelligence chief OpenAI, based on a Bloomberg report citing sources.
The 12-month tenure bridge mortgage could be SoftBank’s largest dollar-denominated borrowing but, they mentioned, including that 4 banks, together with JPMorgan Chase & Firm will likely be underwriting the ability.
Son’s aggressive strikes in AI area
The report additional famous that the potential measurement of the mortgage emphasizes Son’s continued “aggressive bid” to place SoftBank because the nucleus of the booming AI area. The corporate goals to take a position $30 billion in OpenAI, over the $30 billion already infused.
Until December 2025, the funding holding firm had 11% stake within the Sam Altman led ChatGPT maker and even offered stake in Jensen Huang’s blockbuster chip firm Nvidia Company to fund the infusion.
OpenAI now represents SoftBank’s largest holding outdoors of Arm Holdings (90% stake), whereas its funding of different companies slows down. Its shares are actually tethered to ChatGPT’s relative efficiency towards Google’s (Alphabet) Gemini and Anthropic PBC’s Claude, which have been steadily gaining market share.
All these investments underscore the necessity for the tech investor to tackle giant sums of debt. The corporate has already elevated the quantity of its margin loans secured by cell unit SoftBank Corp. and chip unit Arm, the report added.
Issues over AI bubble persists
The report famous that threat bets should not uncommon for Son, who’s early investments in ByteDance (TikTok’s mother or father firm) and Alibaba paid off. The value nevertheless was not so dire, it added.
Watchers nevertheless are involved over the potential AI bubble burst, and S&P this week lowered SoftBank’s credit score outlook, citing the hazard that its investments in OpenAI could damage the Japanese firm’s liquidity and the credit score high quality of its belongings.
Bloomberg analyst Sharon Chen mentioned that SoftBank’s $30 billion funding in OpenAI is an additional drag to its credit score profile, with the corporate dealing with restricted headroom beneath S&P’s 35% adjusted LTV threshold.
“It has been counting on debt and asset gross sales to fund greater than $70 billion of AI investments since 2025, leading to a big debt burden and weaker portfolio high quality. An unsure macro backdrop and considerations round an AI bubble poses threat to SoftBank’s LTV and the timing of an OpenAI itemizing — a key optimistic catalyst,” she mentioned.
Chen added, “SoftBank wants to lift as a lot as $40 billion this yr. It advantages from sturdy entry to the yen market and might increase greater than $10 billion from the sale of T-Cellular and listed tech shares, excluding Arm. Its bonds are prone to stay risky, with provide threat and potential risk-off posing unfold widening strain.”
(With inputs from Bloomberg)