To assemble the necessary capital, Son has already sold SoftBank’s entire $5.8 billion stake in AI chip leader Nvidia, offloaded $4.8 billion in T-Mobile US shares, and implemented staff reductions across the group. Dealmaking at SoftBank’s Vision Fund has slowed dramatically, with any investment exceeding $50 million now requiring Son’s explicit approval, sources said.
In addition to divestments, SoftBank is moving forward with its plan to take its payments operator PayPay public. Originally slated for this month, the initial public offering was delayed due to the 43-day U.S. government shutdown, which ended in November. The debut is now expected in the first quarter of next year and could raise more than $20 billion, according to sources familiar with the process.
SoftBank is also exploring partial exits from its holdings in Didi Global, China’s major ride-hailing operator. Didi plans to relist in Hong Kong after a U.S. delisting in 2021, following a regulatory crackdown, a source said. Vision Fund managers are being directed to prioritize the OpenAI deal over other opportunities.
The urgency to secure funds underscores the financial strain even the largest global investors face as they seek to finance massive AI projects, including data centers costing hundreds of billions of dollars. SoftBank has multiple avenues to tap, including cash on its balance sheet, corporate bonds, margin loans, and stakes in listed companies.
A significant source of capital could come from SoftBank’s undrawn margin loans backed by its 100% ownership of Arm Holdings, the British semiconductor and software design company. The firm recently expanded this borrowing capacity by $6.5 billion, bringing total undrawn loans to $11.5 billion. Arm’s stock has more than tripled since its IPO, giving SoftBank additional collateral to support new borrowing.
As of September 30, SoftBank reported parent-level cash of 4.2 trillion yen ($27.16 billion) and still holds about 4% of T-Mobile US, valued at roughly $11 billion. Despite slowing new investments, the company has continued backing AI startups including Sierra and Skild AI.
The funding is critical for OpenAI, which, alongside SoftBank, is investing in Stargate, a $500 billion initiative to build AI data centers for training and inference. These centers are considered crucial to maintaining U.S. competitiveness in AI against China. The push to expand data center capacity has also prompted tech giants like Meta to commit massive capital, raising concerns about potential overinvestment in the sector.
SoftBank pledged in April to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI, with $10 billion delivered immediately. The remaining funds were contingent on OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit structure by year-end—a milestone it achieved in October.
The new capital will help OpenAI cover soaring costs for training and operating its AI models as competition intensifies from Google’s Gemini and other rivals. CEO Sam Altman recently described the company as entering a “code red” phase to enhance ChatGPT, temporarily delaying other product rollouts. OpenAI’s long-term ambitions remain staggering: Altman has outlined plans to build 30 gigawatts of computing capacity for $1.4 trillion and ultimately add one gigawatt of compute per week, with each gigawatt costing over $40 billion.
SoftBank’s aggressive push to fund OpenAI illustrates the high stakes of the AI race and the lengths even the world’s most seasoned investors will go to secure a foothold in the sector.