SoftBank's growing bets on AI and semiconductor assets
ARM•SoftBank raised $11.1 billion in the largest high-yield corporate bond sale on record to fund investments in OpenAI and other AI-related companies and infrastructure. Its disclosed bets include a planned $60 billion in OpenAI investments across 2025 and 2026, a $6.5 billion deal for Ampere Computing and a $2 billion investment in Intel.
1. OpenAI and infrastructure
SoftBank first invested $500 million in OpenAI in 2024, then put in around $30 billion more in 2025 and committed to a further $30 billion in 2026. The investments are expected to bring SoftBank's holding to around 13% of OpenAI's equity; as of the end of June, OpenAI's rising private-market valuation had generated $45 billion in unrealised gains for SoftBank. SoftBank also agreed to acquire DigitalBridge in a deal valued at $4 billion and is leading financing for the Stargate project, which was announced with plans for up to $500 billion of investment over four years.
2. Chips and robotics
SoftBank announced a $2 billion equity investment in Intel and agreed to acquire Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion. It also agreed to buy ABB's robotics business for $5.4 billion and bought AI chipmaker Graphcore in 2024 for an undisclosed sum. SoftBank owns a majority stake in Arm, whose value was reported at 36.8 trillion yen ($232.41 billion) in August 2026.
3. Other AI holdings
SoftBank has backed Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search startup, and previously owned around 5% of Nvidia before selling its stake in 2019. It built up a position in Nvidia again and sold its $5.83 billion stake in the second half of 2025.
