The potential investment would form part of a much larger funding round that could raise up to $100 billion and value OpenAI at around $830 billion, underlining the escalating financial stakes in the global AI race.

The negotiations come after SoftBank’s significant backing of OpenAI last year, a commitment that ultimately saw the Japanese investment giant complete a roughly $41 billion investment in December 2025, giving it an estimated 11% stake in the company.

SoftBank’s chairman and chief executive, Masayoshi Son, has made AI a core strategic focus for the group, even as other parts of its portfolio have been pared back. Market reaction to the latest reports have been positive, with SoftBank’s shares rising on the news.

The talks are understood to be ongoing, with neither SoftBank nor OpenAI publicly commenting on the reports.

If concluded, the funding could support OpenAI’s efforts to expand its compute capacity and model development at a time when operating costs are rising and competition from major tech rivals, including Google and Microsoft-backed initiatives, remains intense.

The proposed deal also follows broader strategic moves by SoftBank into AI infrastructure and related ventures, as the company seeks to secure long-term positioning in the burgeoning artificial intelligence sector.

What could this mean?

• A fresh investment of this size would further cement SoftBank as one of OpenAI’s most significant backers.
• It reflects broader industry trends where tech giants and sovereign investors are pouring capital into AI research, data centres and compute-intensive infrastructure.
• For OpenAI, access to such funding would help underwrite the massive costs of training advanced AI models and expanding global operations.

Discussions are still fluid, and terms, including timing and investor mix, could evolve as talks progress.

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