SoftBank raises OpenAI-linked loan to $11.9B
The new facility gives Masayoshi Son more financing room while increasing SoftBank's exposure to the OpenAI cycle.
SoftBank Group secured an $11.87B two-year loan to support its investment push around OpenAI, according to Bloomberg-syndicated reporting that cited people familiar with the deal. The facility was increased from an earlier $10B target and drew commitments from about 20 banks. SoftBank declined to comment.
The new borrowing sits on top of a much larger debt program tied to Masayoshi Son’s AI strategy. SoftBank has also arranged margin financing backed by its OpenAI position and has been sounding out investors for a potential dollar bond sale. The company has said it will repay the remaining balance on a $40B bridge loan used to finance its OpenAI investment.
The practical point is not just that SoftBank found another lender group. It shows how deeply the next wave of AI infrastructure is being financed through leverage, private-market OpenAI exposure and expectations that demand for frontier models will keep rising. That gives SoftBank more room to stay close to OpenAI, but it also makes the AI funding cycle more sensitive to credit markets and investor confidence.
OpenAI
