TLDR
- SoftBank plans to raise 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion) through a retail bond sale, the largest ever by a Japanese issuer.
- The seven-year bonds carry an indicative coupon of 4.3% to 4.9%, with final terms expected September 4.
- SoftBank stock fell 2.6% to 5,118.0 yen following the announcement.
- The company has committed more than $60 billion to OpenAI investments and is expanding data center capacity.
- The issuance is nearly twice the size of SoftBank’s previous record bond offering of 600 billion yen in April 2025.
SoftBank’s stock dropped 2.6% to 5,118.0 yen on Monday after the company announced plans to raise 1 trillion yen, roughly $6.3 billion, through a retail bond sale.
The offering is the largest ever by a Japanese issuer and nearly double the size of SoftBank’s previous record, a 600 billion yen bond sale completed in April 2025.
The seven-year bonds are aimed at individual investors and carry a provisional coupon range of 4.3% to 4.9%. Final pricing is expected on September 4.
The offering period runs from September 7 to September 16, with the bonds set to be issued on September 17 and mature on September 16, 2033.
SoftBank has been using a mix of borrowings, bond sales, and asset sales to fund its growing AI commitments. That includes selling stakes in Nvidia and T-Mobile to free up capital.
The company has committed more than $60 billion to OpenAI and is also pushing ahead with data center expansion to meet growing demand for computing capacity.
Earlier reports indicated SoftBank was also exploring a margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake, though no deal has been confirmed.
Funding the AI Push
The bond sale is part of a broader financing strategy as SoftBank deepens its bet on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The scale of the raise reflects just how much capital SoftBank is deploying. A $6.3 billion bond sale in a single offering is not a small move, even for a conglomerate of this size.
SoftBank is not alone in this push. Across Asia, companies are accelerating spending on AI infrastructure.
Regional Context
Chinese tech giant Alibaba launched a $10.2 billion placement on Sunday to invest in what it calls its “full stack” AI capabilities.
The parallel moves from SoftBank and Alibaba highlight how much capital is flowing into AI across the region right now.
For SoftBank, the bond sale gives it a fresh pool of retail investor money to back its OpenAI commitments without having to sell more assets in the near term.
The provisional coupon of 4.3% to 4.9% will need to attract enough individual investors during the September 7 to 16 subscription window.
SoftBank is scheduled to confirm the final coupon and terms on September 4, ahead of the bond’s September 17 issuance date.
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