SoftBank shares fall 10.8% as financing pressure on AI investment draws attentionMachine translation

SoftBank trades as a proxy for AI spending through its $64.6B OpenAI stake, 90% of Arm and data-centre builder SB Energy. And its shares fell 10.8% on Friday as the cost of insuring its debt (credit risk) hit a 4-year high. It has borrowed at record yields to fund the OpenAI stake, while OpenAI’s IPO delay to 2027 pushes back any return. SB Energy’s IPO filing projects $439B in contracted revenue, yet it operates no data centres and depends heavily on OpenAI. After midterm wins, democratic governors in states hosting planned sites may slow development. And one-third of planned 2027-2028 US data-centre capacity are in those states, though most 2027 projects already secured power and chips.