SoftBank’s AI bet meets its accountants this week. When the Japanese group reports earnings, the headline profit will look healthy, but the real story is the mountain of funding commitments Masayoshi Son has stacked behind OpenAI.
Analysts expect net profit of around ¥148bn, close to $940m, for the April-to-June quarter, flattered by the rising value of its OpenAI stake. The number investors will actually study is how Son intends to pay for what he has promised.
The promises are enormous. SoftBank has committed more than $60bn to OpenAI and related AI infrastructure, and it is racing to meet a near-term tranche of roughly $22.5bn to OpenAI by the end of the year.
The bill arrives as debt matures. SoftBank faces about $30bn of obligations in the second half of 2026, including a $40bn bridging loan that runs to March 2027 and a $20bn margin loan secured against its Arm shares.
One funding route has jammed. A plan to borrow against its OpenAI stake stalled as lenders grew wary of credit backed by a private company, and SoftBank has already cut a related margin-loan target.
