The CEO of the Japanese tech conglomerate has reportedly held discussions in recent weeks with senior figures, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), about the potential fundraising.
Son has already increased his investments in AI, with SoftBank announcing a week ago that it has completed its USD 30 billion investment in OpenAI as part of its commitment to the ChatGPT maker’s most recent fundraising round.
The Japanese tech conglomerate has already raised USD 11.1 billion through the world’s largest high-yield corporate bond sale to fund its mammoth bet on the ChatGPT parent.
“The Japanese investment conglomerate would use the proceeds to establish a fund that would acquire companies and improve their operations using AI and other advanced technologies,” the FT reported further.
SoftBank’s cumulative investment in OpenAI now stands at USD 64.6 billion, giving it a 13% stake in the AI lab.
OpenAI, in the coming months, is looking to raise at least USD 30 billion, seeking a valuation of about USD 1.4 trillion.
The fundraising discussions are at an early stage, and terms could change, reported Bloomberg last week, adding that the demand for the round is being led by investors.
The proposed round would serve as a bridge financing to provide capital in place of an IPO, with the latter being deferred over the safety concerns among the public and policymakers about the products developed by the frontier AI labs, including OpenAI.
The company had closed a funding round in March with USD 122 billion in committed capital, valuing it at USD 852 billion.
OpenAI’s rival, Anthropic, meanwhile, has reported a net loss of USD 42 billion, which the company witnessed in 2025.
The Dario Amodei-led venture is planning to spend USD 518 billion on cloud, computing, and infrastructure obligations.
While OpenAI has postponed its IPO, Anthropic has taken a different approach by highlighting the risks associated with its AI models in its IPO prospectus, stating that these models could exhibit “self-preserving behaviors” like attempts to “resist shutdown,” “conceal or manipulate information,” and behaviors “resembling blackmail.”