SoftBank has finalized one of the largest private technology funding deals to date. The Japanese conglomerate has completed its investment commitment of approximately $40.000 billion in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, in a move that solidifies its all-out commitment to artificial intelligence.
With this move, the company founded and led by Masayoshi Son places itself at the heart of the new power map of generative AI, at a time when major technology and financial groups in the United States, Europe and Asia are redirecting capital towards advanced models and the infrastructure that supports them.
Structure of the operation and participation in OpenAI
According to sources cited by media outlets such as CNBC and Reuters, SoftBank has been completing the capital injection in several phases, combining direct investment in OpenAI's for-profit subsidiary and syndicated co-investment with other backers. The final tranche, executed last week, was between $22.000 billion and $22.500 billion.
This latest transfer adds to previous contributions of $7.500 billion, $8.000 billion, and $10.000 billion that the Japanese group had disbursed in previous months. Taken together, the package raises SoftBank's stake to around 11% of OpenAI's capital, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.
The funding round was structured to reach up to $40.000 billion , combining resources from the conglomerate itself and syndicated co-investors worth approximately $11.000 billion. This structure has allowed the company to lead the operation without bearing all the financial risk alone.
On paper, the deal valued OpenAI at around $300.000 billion post-money. However, a secondary stock sale completed in October pushed that figure closer to $500.000 billion, according to data from the specialist firm PitchBook.
Masayoshi Son's personal bet on artificial intelligence
The move aligns with Masayoshi Son's track record as an aggressive technology investor , accustomed to large-scale deals and long-term horizons. Under his leadership, SoftBank has built one of the world's most ambitious private technology investment programs, with a particular focus on AI and the infrastructure that enables its mass deployment.
In recent months, the group has undergone internal restructuring to free up liquidity and concentrate resources on this strategic move. Among the most striking decisions is the sale of its stake in Nvidia , valued at around $5.800 billion, despite Nvidia being one of the biggest winners in the AI ​​computing boom.
This exit has been accompanied by reductions in its presence in other listed assets , including a significant portion of its shares in T-Mobile US, as well as an almost complete slowdown in new operations from the Vision Fund and cuts in various areas of the group.
The signal Son is sending to the market is clear: SoftBank is prepared to reduce its portfolio diversification to focus on AI as its primary driver of value creation. The closure of its investment in OpenAI, in that sense, marks a point of no return in the conglomerate's strategy.
Impact on OpenAI and the global AI ecosystem
For OpenAI, this final capital injection represents much more than just a financial boost. SoftBank's backing, along with that of other partners like Microsoft and potential new strategic investors, solidifies the company's position as a central pillar of the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.
AI has become the driving force behind global technology markets, fueling a veritable wave of investment from the world's largest companies and raising investor expectations for business models linked to this technology. OpenAI is riding the crest of this wave, both for its role in popularizing ChatGPT and for its developments in language and video models.
Meanwhile, the company is exploring deals with other industrial and entertainment giants. In recent weeks, there have been talks with Amazon regarding a potential additional investment of over $10.000 billion, and companies like Disney have already taken positions with investments of around $1.000 billion, linked to content creation projects using tools like Sora.
This network of alliances opens the door to new commercial exploitation models based on intellectual property rights, character licenses, and AI-generated audiovisual content, which in turn adds complexity to regulatory debates in the United States and, especially, in the European Union.
Infrastructure and the Stargate project: the race for data centers
Beyond model development, a significant portion of SoftBank's capital will be allocated to building critical AI infrastructure . OpenAI is participating alongside Oracle and other partners in the "Stargate" project , a plan to deploy a network of large-scale data centers designed to support future generations of models.
These complexes require enormous volumes of energy, specialized chips , and high-capacity connectivity , which is pushing leading players in the sector to secure long-term contracts with manufacturers such as Nvidia, AMD, or Broadcom, as well as with energy providers and network operators.
OpenAI itself has made infrastructure investment commitments that, combined, could exceed one trillion dollars over several years. A significant portion of that figure is specifically linked to advanced data centers , strategic locations to house them, and stable power supply agreements.
Europe, which has approved the EU Artificial Intelligence Regulation and is increasingly tightening energy sustainability requirements, is closely watching these developments. Although the first Stargate deployments are concentrated in the United States, the need for proximity to business users, telecommunications networks, and data nodes makes it highly likely that locations in Europe will be considered; the protection of critical infrastructure is a central aspect of this debate.
For EU countries, including Spain , the possibility of hosting infrastructures of this type implies both opportunities —skilled employment, investment and attracting talent— and challenges, including intensive electricity consumption and the environmental impact of the new facilities.
DigitalBridge and the control of the AI ​​value chain
Almost simultaneously with the closing of the round with OpenAI, SoftBank has announced an agreement to acquire the US digital infrastructure manager DigitalBridge , in a deal valued at approximately $4.000 billion.
Although the transaction is not expected to be completed until 2026, the move fits with the Japanese group's goal of gaining weight in all layers of the artificial intelligence value chain : from the capital that finances model developers to the ownership and management of physical assets, such as data centers and networks.
The combination of the investment in OpenAI with the purchase of DigitalBridge outlines an integrated strategy in which SoftBank wants to position itself as a key partner for large AI infrastructure projects , both in the United States and in other developed markets.
This approach has direct implications for Europe. As US and Asian companies strengthen their control over data, chips, and processing centers, the EU's strategic autonomy in areas such as cloud computing, data sovereignty, and high-performance AI capabilities is under increasing pressure.
Market reaction and SoftBank results
The confirmation that SoftBank had completed its investment commitment in OpenAI did not go unnoticed in the markets. Following the news, shares of the Japanese group advanced on the US stock exchange , with gains exceeding 1% in the early stages of trading.
From an accounting perspective, the conglomerate has seen its net profits skyrocket in the last quarter . Between April and September, the first half of its fiscal year, SoftBank practically tripled its net income thanks, in large part, to the increased value of its investments in artificial intelligence.
This shift contrasts with previous periods in which the group faced significant write-downs in some of its technology portfolios. The new phase revolves around one idea: concentrating risks in a few assets considered strategic , such as OpenAI and its digital infrastructure businesses.
For European institutional investors, the SoftBank case is seen as a large-scale stress test: if the gamble pays off, it will serve as a benchmark for sovereign wealth funds and large asset managers considering increasing their direct exposure to AI; if it goes wrong, it will reinforce the voices calling for caution in the face of record valuations of companies in the sector.
Regulatory challenges and impact in Europe
The concentration of capital and computing power in a small number of companies, including OpenAI and its major investors, raises significant regulatory questions . The United States and the European Union are already working on regulatory frameworks that address, from different perspectives, issues such as competition, data use, and the transparency of AI models.
In the European case, the recently approved AI Regulation is combined with previous rules such as the GDPR and the Digital Markets Act , which obliges large platforms to adapt their data processing practices and offer greater guarantees to companies and citizens.
SoftBank's heavy capital injection into OpenAI not only has an impact on Silicon Valley: it also conditions the company's negotiating position with European regulators , who seek to avoid situations of excessive dependence on non-EU providers for critical AI-based services.
In Spain, where companies and public administrations are progressively integrating generative AI solutions in sectors such as banking, insurance, energy or public services, the advance of global platforms such as OpenAI is putting pressure on local actors to accelerate their own developments or, failing that, establish strategic alliances.
The fundamental question for European businesses is how to balance access to cutting-edge technology with preserving digital sovereignty . The presence of large Asian and American investors at the heart of the AI ​​ecosystem complicates this equation, but also opens the door to industrial and cross-investment agreements with companies on the continent.
With the closing of its roughly $40.000 billion investment in OpenAI and the acquisition of DigitalBridge on the horizon, SoftBank is consolidating a central position in the new geography of artificial intelligence , while markets and regulators, including in Europe and Spain, are closely watching whether this concentration of resources translates into sustainable growth or into one of the biggest risks taken by a technology investor in recent decades.
