SoftBank Group said on Friday that it has obtained a $40 billion bridge loan to support investments in OpenAI, the company that makes ChatGPT, as well as for general business reasons. This is a major step in the company’s artificial intelligence agenda.
As international IT companies compete to acquire an advantage in the fiercely competitive generative AI market, the Japanese investment conglomerate, headed by founder Masayoshi Son, keeps fortifying its relationship with OpenAI.
Through its Vision Fund 2, the Japanese investor has previously committed to investing $30 billion in OpenAI. According to the corporation, the bridge loan is unsecured.
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and MUFG Bank were among the lenders involved in the loan arrangement, which has a March 2027 maturity date.
With Microsoft’s support, OpenAI has become a major force after ChatGPT’s widespread use, which has led to an increase in investment in the industry.
Son’s increasingly aggressive bet on AI is highlighted by the loan, which comes after years in which SoftBank alternated between large returns and significant Vision Fund losses.
The Stargate Project, which announced last year that it intended to invest up to $500 billion over four years to develop AI infrastructure in the United States, included SoftBank and OpenAI.
In December 2024, the son of then-President-elect Donald Trump declared that SoftBank intended to invest $100 billion over four years in AI and related infrastructure in the United States.
