SoftBank Seeks $40 Billion Loan to Double Down on OpenAI as Stargate Data Center Plans Collapse

Q: What $40 Billion Buys

To put $40 billion in perspective: It’s roughly four times what Microsoft paid for Activision Blizzard, the largest gaming acquisition ever It’s more than the annual GDP of over 80 countries It could fund approximately 50-100 large-scale data centers depending on location and capacity It represents about 40% of SoftBank’s entire market capitalization Borrowing that much money to invest in a single company — even one as prominent as OpenAI — is the kind of bet that either makes you the smartest investor of your generation or the biggest cautionary tale in corporate finance.

By SaveDelete March 7, 2026 Updated: March 7, 2026

SoftBank is seeking a bridge loan of up to $40 billion from major banks to help finance its investment in OpenAI and the broader Stargate AI infrastructure project, according to sources familiar with the matter. The news comes at a particularly awkward time — just as Oracle and OpenAI abandoned plans to expand a key Stargate data center in Texas amid financing disputes.

If this sounds like Masayoshi Son repeating history, that’s because it is. The man who turned a $20 million investment in Alibaba into $60 billion is now trying to borrow more money than some countries’ GDP to bet on AI. The last time he made bets this aggressive, we got WeWork.

The $40 Billion Gamble

SoftBank’s bridge loan would be among the largest corporate borrowings in recent memory. The company needs the capital to fund its growing commitment to OpenAI and the Stargate project — a massive AI infrastructure initiative that was supposed to build the computing backbone for next-generation AI systems.

Multiple major banks are in discussions to provide the financing, though the exact terms and participants haven’t been disclosed. A bridge loan of this size would typically carry significant interest rates and be expected to be refinanced or paid down within 12-24 months.

For SoftBank, which has already invested billions in OpenAI through multiple funding rounds, this would represent a dramatic escalation of its AI bet. Masayoshi Son has made artificial intelligence his central thesis — telling investors that AI will be the most important technology in human history and that SoftBank intends to be at the center of it.

Stargate Is Already Crumbling

The timing couldn’t be worse. Sources revealed that Oracle and OpenAI have abandoned plans to expand a Stargate data center in Abilene, Texas, amid financing disputes between the partners. The expansion was supposed to add massive computing capacity for AI training and inference workloads.

In a telling sign of how quickly the AI infrastructure landscape is shifting, Meta is now considering leasing the planned expansion site — essentially moving into the space that Stargate couldn’t afford to fill.

The Stargate collapse raises a fundamental question: if Oracle and OpenAI can’t agree on how to finance a data center expansion, how is SoftBank planning to deploy $40 billion effectively?

The Vision Fund Déjà Vu

SoftBank’s track record with massive technology bets is... mixed. The $100 billion Vision Fund, launched in 2017, made aggressive investments in companies like WeWork, Uber, DoorDash, and dozens of others. The results were spectacular in both directions:

WeWork — SoftBank’s $18.5 billion investment imploded when the company’s IPO collapsed, eventually writing down billions
Uber — Made money after the IPO but at returns far below what the investment size warranted
Alibaba — The legendary early bet that made Son’s reputation, but SoftBank has since sold most of its stake
Vision Fund 2 — Launched without outside investors after the first fund’s mixed results scared them off

The pattern is consistent: Son identifies a transformative technology trend, makes an enormous bet, and then watches as some investments generate massive returns while others crash spectacularly. AI is clearly the next big bet, and $40 billion is the table stakes.

Oracle’s 30,000 Layoffs Add Context

The Stargate financing dispute also comes against the backdrop of Oracle announcing plans to lay off approximately 30,000 employees to manage spending on AI data centers. The company is simultaneously cutting headcount and struggling to finance AI infrastructure — a contradiction that suggests the economics of AI infrastructure are far more challenging than the hype suggests.

If Oracle, one of the world’s largest enterprise software companies, can’t make the AI data center math work without laying off tens of thousands, what does that say about the broader industry’s spending plans?

What $40 Billion Buys

To put $40 billion in perspective:

It’s roughly four times what Microsoft paid for Activision Blizzard, the largest gaming acquisition ever
It’s more than the annual GDP of over 80 countries
It could fund approximately 50-100 large-scale data centers depending on location and capacity
It represents about 40% of SoftBank’s entire market capitalization

Borrowing that much money to invest in a single company — even one as prominent as OpenAI — is the kind of bet that either makes you the smartest investor of your generation or the biggest cautionary tale in corporate finance.

The Bottom Line

SoftBank borrowing $40 billion for OpenAI while the Stargate data center project literally falls apart is either visionary conviction or dangerous delusion. Masayoshi Son is betting that AI will be so transformative that today’s prices — however absurd they seem — will look cheap in retrospect.

He’s made that bet before. Sometimes it was Alibaba, and he looked like a genius. Sometimes it was WeWork, and he looked like a fool. With $40 billion on the line, the stakes have never been higher — and the Stargate cracks are already showing.