SoftBank Group is in talks to borrow $10 billion for two years to refinance debt it took on to fund its investment in OpenAI, according to people familiar with the matter. The loan is expected to price at about 275 basis points above the secured overnight financing rate, or SOFR, with Mizuho Bank acting as lead arranger and bookrunner.
Part of the proceeds could repay a $40 billion bridge loan SoftBank obtained earlier this year to finance its OpenAI stake, a commitment that expires Aug. 31. The refinancing comes as SoftBank expects to have invested nearly $65 billion in OpenAI by October, a figure that has grown month by month as the Japanese conglomerate doubles down on the lab.
SoftBank is also considering issuing between $10 billion and $20 billion in bonds, and it plans to sell about 1 trillion yen, roughly $6.3 billion, of retail bonds in Japan, according to people familiar with the plans. The combination of bank loans, corporate bonds and retail notes would give Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate one of the largest capital-raising programs in its history, funded in part by ordinary Japanese households.
The borrowing spree has drawn attention from lenders, who are beginning to reassess how AI companies and their backers are valued. Bloomberg reported this week that some loan institutions have started to question the assumptions behind the AI investment boom, even as SoftBank’s own commitment to OpenAI has only grown. Son’s answer to the skepticism has not been to pull back, but to borrow more and roll the bet forward.
SoftBank’s OpenAI position has become the centerpiece of its strategy. The group invested $15 billion in OpenAI in January as part of a financing round, and has added to the stake since, including through purchases of employee shares. Its total commitment has climbed toward $65 billion, making SoftBank by far the largest external investor in the lab, whose valuation has more than doubled over the past year.
The structure of the new loan is telling. A two-year tenor, rather than the longer maturities common in corporate lending, suggests lenders want a shorter exposure to a business whose fortunes are tied to a single investment. The 275-basis-point spread over SOFR is wide for a borrower of SoftBank’s size, a sign that banks are pricing in real risk around the AI holding, banking executives said.
The bridge loan it replaces was itself unusual. SoftBank raised $40 billion earlier this year to fund its OpenAI purchases, one of the largest bridge facilities ever arranged for a single investment. Repaying that with a combination of new bank debt, bonds and retail notes spreads the repayment across different pockets of the market.
The retail bond sale is a particularly Japanese solution. SoftBank has long sold bonds to individual investors in Japan, who have shown appetite for its paper even during volatile periods. A 1 trillion yen retail offering would be among the largest of its kind, and it ties the company’s AI strategy to the savings of Japanese households at a time when interest rates in the country are rising for the first time in years.
Analysts said the refinancing shows how AI’s largest financial backers are being forced to manage enormous balance-sheet strains. OpenAI is burning cash as it builds data centers and trains frontier models, and its investors are funding that spending with debt that must be serviced and repaid. SoftBank’s own credit rating and borrowing costs have become, in effect, a barometer for the AI investment cycle.
Son has said publicly that artificial intelligence will create more value than any technology in history, and he has steered SoftBank’s portfolio accordingly. The group has sold down stakes in other businesses to concentrate capital on AI, and its Vision Fund has shifted from venture-stage bets to direct, outsized positions in a handful of companies.
The immediate test comes this week. The $40 billion bridge loan matures Aug. 31, and SoftBank is working to have the new facilities in place before the deadline, people familiar with the matter said. Banks, for their part, are weighing the fees and relationship benefits of lending to SoftBank against the growing scrutiny of AI valuations.
The stakes extend beyond SoftBank’s own books. OpenAI’s funding needs have become so large that the lab’s growth now depends on the willingness of lenders to keep financing its backers. SoftBank is not alone in that position, but it is the most exposed: no other investor has tied its balance sheet so directly to a single AI company. Banks that participate in the new loan are effectively making a judgment about OpenAI’s ability to reach profitability before its largest shareholder’s debts come due.
How lenders resolve that calculation will shape the cost of the AI buildout. If banks keep lending on SoftBank’s terms, the conglomerate can continue to fund OpenAI’s expansion at scale. If they balk, Son’s machine will have to find capital elsewhere, at higher prices, or slow the pace of investment. The refinancing, in other words, is not just a balance-sheet exercise. It is a test of whether the financial system is still willing to underwrite the AI boom.
