SoftBank is reportedly attempting to arrange one of the largest corporate borrowings ever linked to artificial intelligence. The company is aiming to raise as much as $40 billion through a short-term loan from a consortium of global banks in order to finance a significantly larger investment in OpenAI, reports Bloomberg. This comes days after the ChatGPT maker confirmed that SoftBank is contributing around $30 billion as part of its latest $110 billion funding round.
The proposed financing is structured as a bridge loan, meaning the borrowed funds would be temporary capital used to quickly complete an investment before SoftBank replaces the debt with longer-term financing sources like bonds, asset sales, or equity transactions. The loan is expected to carry a maturity of around one year and would likely be arranged by several major international lenders, with JPMorgan Chase reportedly involved in coordinating the financing discussions.
The purpose of the borrowing is to allow SoftBank to increase its stake in OpenAI during a massive new fundraising round by the AI firm, which has pushed OpenAI’s valuation to about $730 billion. SoftBank has been gradually positioning itself as one of OpenAI’s largest strategic backers. By late 2025, the Japanese investment group had accumulated an estimated stake of around 11% in the company through earlier funding rounds and related transactions. And increasing that stake further would clearly place SoftBank in a powerful position within the rapidly expanding AI industry.
The latest development is notable because while the Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank is now seeking massive financing to strengthen its position as a major backer of OpenAI, the group had exited another key AI investment not long ago. In October 2025, SoftBank sold its entire stake of about 32 million shares in Nvidia for around $5.8 billion, stating the action was aimed at unlocking capital for new artificial-intelligence infrastructure and model-development projects rather than reflecting doubts about Nvidia’s future.
This is also happening at a time when SoftBank has been reporting a strong financial recovery. In the October-December 2025 quarter, the Japanese technology and investment giant posted a net income of about $1.6 billion (~ ¥250 billion), marking its fourth consecutive profitable quarter after a period of volatility. The turnaround is notable as the company had reported a net loss of around ¥369 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. A major factor behind the improved performance has been SoftBank’s growing exposure to OpenAI. According to its latest earnings disclosures, SoftBank has already recorded almost $19.8 billion (~ ¥2.8 trillion) in cumulative valuation gains from its OpenAI investment over the nine months through December.
The Tech Portal is published by Blue Box Media Private Limited.
Our investors have no influence over our reporting.
Read our full Ownership and Funding Disclosure →