280 Milliarden, OpenAI erhält die bisher größte Finanzierung in der Geschichte.

Translation |   Cheng Qian 

Editing |   Li Shuiqing 

According to reports from Nikkei Asia, SoftBank has completed the promised $22.5 billion (approximately 157.4 billion yuan) in additional investments in OpenAI and increased its stake to approximately 11%. The deal was finalized in the United States last week, and the total capital provided by SoftBank for OpenAI has risen to $34.7 billion (approximately 242.8 billion yuan).

SoftBank's investments in OpenAI began in February this year. SoftBank plans to invest $40 billion (approximately 279.9 billion yuan) in OpenAI over the next 12 to 24 months, based on a company valuation of $260 billion (approximately 1.8 trillion yuan), partly directly and partly in cooperation with other investors. A portion of the capital will be used for the AI infrastructure "Stargate" jointly funded by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.

This means that the $40 billion (approximately 279.9 billion yuan) from SoftBank for OpenAI has been fully received. 

It is worth noting that the full provision of this capital depends on the restructuring of OpenAI and its transformation into a for - profit company by the end of the year. Otherwise, the capital would be reduced to approximately $10 billion. 

Now, the investment champion Masayoshi Son has made a decisive move in the global race for AI technologies and started a new high - flyer. 

01.

Restructuring of OpenAI is the prerequisite for SoftBank's capital

SoftBank's multi - billion - dollar investment in OpenAI is full of drama.

In March this year, SoftBank announced that it would invest $40 billion (approximately 279.9 billion yuan) in OpenAI. Of this, approximately $30 billion (approximately 209.9 billion yuan) is to be invested by SoftBank alone, and approximately $10 billion (approximately 69.9 billion yuan) in cooperation with other supporters.

In SoftBank's independent investment portion, SoftBank completed the first phase with $7.5 billion (approximately 52.5 billion yuan) in April.

At the end of October, Masayoshi Son announced that the remaining $22.5 billion (approximately 157.4 billion yuan) would be paid by the end of the year. Behind this step was a decisive event: OpenAI completed its restructuring.

OpenAI announced that the non - profit OpenAI Foundation will hold 26% of the shares in the for - profit OpenAI Group PBC, which is worth approximately $130 billion (approximately 922.9 billion yuan). This means that OpenAI is getting closer to an IPO and could one day raise hundreds of billions of dollars through a stock market listing for expensive research on large language models.

At that time, it was also reported that SoftBank's promised $40 billion (approximately 279.9 billion yuan) in investments might be drastically reduced to only $10 billion if OpenAI cannot complete the decisive corporate restructuring by the end of this year.

Now, SoftBank's final investment of $22.5 billion (approximately 157.4 billion yuan) has been received.

According to Nikkei Asia, part of SoftBank's recent investments comes from loans taken out against shares of Arm as collateral, with the entire unused credit line of $11.5 billion (approximately 80.5 billion yuan) being utilized.

In April this year, SoftBank received a bridge loan of $15 billion (approximately 104.9 billion yuan) from 21 financial institutions. Without bond repurchases, the total procurement capital in fiscal year 2025 was $9.3 billion (approximately 65.1 billion yuan).

SoftBank's debt ratio currently seems to be stabilizing at around 10%, below the set upper limit of 25%. This is an important indicator of SoftBank's financial situation and is calculated as the ratio of net debt to the value of the held shares.

02.

Liquidation of all NVIDIA shares to finance OpenAI

This year, SoftBank has intensified its efforts in the AI field.

Yesterday, SoftBank announced that it would acquire DigitalBridge for $4 billion (approximately 27.9 billion yuan) to expand the next - generation AI infrastructure. DigitalBridge is an alternative asset manager that focuses on investments in digital infrastructure, including data centers, mobile phone masts, fiber - optic networks, and edge infrastructure. The total value of the company is approximately $400 million (approximately 2.8 billion yuan).

As a former investor in NVIDIA, SoftBank sold all its NVIDIA shares last month, which were worth $5.8 billion (approximately 40.6 billion yuan). People familiar with the matter told CNBC that this sale and other sources of funds are being used for the investments in OpenAI.

At the beginning of the year, SoftBank announced that it would build the "Stargate Project" together with OpenAI and Oracle. It plans to invest up to $500 billion (approximately 3.64 trillion yuan) in AI - related infrastructure over the next four years and create 100,000 jobs. The initial investments are estimated to be $100 billion (approximately 699.6 billion yuan).

In June this year, Masayoshi Son, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank, said at SoftBank's annual general meeting that he believes that "OpenAI will eventually go public" and "will become the most valuable company in the world". 

It can be seen that currently, on the one hand, SoftBank is heavily investing in OpenAI, and on the other hand, it is intervening in the core areas of the AI value - creation chain by acquiring AI infrastructure companies and jointly investing in "Stargate", which may be preparing for later commercialization. 

In December this year, Yoshimitsu Goto, SoftBank's chief purchasing officer, said in an interview that SoftBank is striving to become the largest supporter of OpenAI.

But according to the share structure plan published by OpenAI at the end of October, Microsoft holds 27% of the shares, which are worth $135 billion (approximately 958.4 billion yuan), far more than SoftBank. 

▲ Share structure plan of OpenAI, published at the end of October

03.

Conclusion: Under the change of the large - language - model industry

SoftBank starts a high - flyer in AI

Since the release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, OpenAI has been regarded as a leading company in the large - language - model industry. But the industry landscape is changing as various technology giants and start - ups enter the AI industry. 

From this perspective, SoftBank's aggressive investment strategy has the chance to conquer the top of the AI industry, but it also has to pay attention to liquidity problems and the risks of unexpected implementation due to high investments and long cycles. Future success depends crucially on the adjustment of the computing power of "Stargate" as well as the further development of the models and the commercialization of OpenAI. 

Source: Nikkei Asia, CNBC 

This article is from the WeChat account "Intelligent Things" (ID: zhidxcom), author: Cheng Qian, published by 36Kr with permission.