SoftBank Completes $40B OpenAI Deal After Months of Buildup
SoftBank has finally written the check. A $40 billion gamble is now fully funded.
SoftBank Group has completed its previously announced roughly $40 billion investment in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, fulfilling the largest private tech funding commitment in history.
As reported by CNBC, the Japanese investment powerhouse confirmed that the final transaction — estimated at $22 billion to $22.5 billion — was transferred last week, after earlier installments of $8 billion and $10 billion were already deployed.
The massive infusion deepens SoftBank’s stake in OpenAI to more than 10%, underscoring its ambition to be a central force in the next era of intelligent computing.
Softbank makes big moves to get deal done
To fund this massive commitment, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son sold SoftBank’s entire $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia and offloaded $4.8 billion of its T-Mobile holdings. The company even slashed staff and slowed most other Vision Fund dealmaking to a crawl to prioritize this OpenAI investment.
SoftBank’s completed investment reflects a broader recalibration of its portfolio toward artificial intelligence and related technologies. To fund its OpenAI commitment and other AI bets, the group has undertaken substantial asset sales, including divesting its stake in Nvidia — generating roughly $5.8 billion in liquidity that was redirected into its AI strategy.
Just days before announcing the completion of its OpenAI funding, the company revealed plans to acquire DigitalBridge, a US digital infrastructure investment firm focused on data centers and fiber networks, for about $4 billion.
That deal, expected to close in late 2026, would further bolster SoftBank’s ability to build the computational backbone that next-generation AI systems require.
What the deal means for OpenAI
The completion of this deal solidifies OpenAI’s position as one of the most heavily backed AI developers in the industry. The funding round originally valued the company at about $300 billion post-money, making it one of the largest private technology financings ever recorded.
OpenAI plans to channel a significant portion of this capital into expanding its infrastructure and research capabilities, including strategic projects that aim to drive next-generation AI technologies and services.
Among these is the Stargate initiative, a sprawling joint venture with SoftBank, Oracle, and others designed to build out AI compute infrastructure across the United States and beyond.
You might also like this eWeek story on why Sam Altman is hiring a new head of preparedness at OpenAI… and what it says about the company’s growing focus on AI risk and safety.
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