SoftBank revives $10 billion loan talks backed by OpenAI stake

SoftBank Group has reopened talks with a group of lenders on a $10 billion loan backed by its OpenAI stake, after an earlier push ran into resistance from banks uneasy about pricing one of the hottest private companies in artificial intelligence. The financing is structured as a margin loan, but SoftBank is now offering a crucial concession: if the pledged OpenAI shares lose value, the Japanese investor would guarantee repayment, giving lenders recourse beyond the collateral itself.

That shift is designed to make the deal easier for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Mizuho Financial Group, the banks expected in the lending group. It also shows how aggressively SoftBank is trying to preserve cash for its AI strategy without selling down a prized holding, even as lenders remain wary of the volatility embedded in a stake tied to a company still outside the public markets.

The renewed negotiations revive a financing effort that had already been scaled back before stalling. Earlier reporting in April said SoftBank was seeking $10 billion secured by OpenAI shares, and later in June the amount had shrunk to at least $6 billion before the talks froze. The return to the larger figure suggests SoftBank is still trying to tap the same asset more forcefully, even if the terms now have to absorb more lender caution.

The stakes are rising because SoftBank and OpenAI are already deeply intertwined in Stargate, the U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure push announced in January 2025. OpenAI said the project’s initial equity funders were SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX, with SoftBank holding financial responsibility and OpenAI handling operations. In September, OpenAI said Stargate had expanded to five new U.S. data-center sites and nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity, with more than $400 billion of investment expected over three years and over 25,000 onsite jobs projected.

OpenAI’s own valuation has also moved sharply higher, reinforcing the appeal and the difficulty of using its equity as collateral. The company said in March 2025 that it had raised $40 billion at a $300 billion post-money valuation, then said in March 2026 that it had closed a new round with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion valuation. SoftBank’s financing needs are tied to that buildout: on January 9, 2026, OpenAI said SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company, would invest $1 billion to support data-center-campus development, while OpenAI and SB Energy each committed $500 million and OpenAI selected a 1.2 gigawatt site in Milam County, Texas.

The capital demands keep climbing. OpenAI and AMD said in October that they would deploy 6 gigawatts of AMD GPUs, starting with 1 gigawatt in 2026. Against that backdrop, SoftBank’s revived loan talks underline how far capital markets are stretching to finance AI exposure, and how much extra protection lenders now want before they lend against it.