SoftBank seeks over $11 billion in junk bonds for OpenAI bet

SoftBank Group is seeking the equivalent of more than $11 billion in what would be one of the biggest junk bond deals ever, people familiar with the matter said Monday, as billionaire Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate ramps up its investments in ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

The company is looking to issue $10 billion of dollar securities across three tenors, and €1 billion ($1.1 billion) of euro notes across two maturities, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. The money will be used in part to fund a follow-on investment in OpenAI expected to close next month, the people said. The deal may price on Thursday, they added.

One of the world’s largest investors in AI, SoftBank’s fortunes have become increasingly intertwined with its ability to monetize its holding in OpenAI after committing close to $65 billion to the tech pioneer. That’s put Son’s firm at the epicenter of debt-fueled bets on artificial intelligence, at a time when safety concerns about the industry have flared.

SoftBank entered into a $40 billion bridge loan in March to fund an additional investment in OpenAI, and recently repaid the outstanding balance of $25.9 billion on that facility. It’s been tapping debt markets in a flurry of deals as it builds out its artificial intelligence financing capacity.

It closed out last week with nearly $21 billion in potential fresh borrowings. The group increased a margin loan backed by shares of its chip unit Arm Holdings by $5 billion to $25 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. And it recently secured an additional $450 million to an existing credit line, bringing the total to $6.5 billion.

Apollo Global Management is also in talks to boost the size of a loan to SoftBank by $3.6 billion to $9 billion to help it finance its investment in AI giant OpenAI. On top of that, the firm founded and led by billionaire Son secured an $11.87 billion loan, also to support its OpenAI investment, according to people familiar with those deals.

As part of its funding campaign this year, SoftBank has sold almost $15 billion in notes across currencies, making it the biggest junk-rated borrower in bond markets so far in 2026, Bloomberg-compiled data show. There was also a $10 billion loan earlier this year backed by its OpenAI stake.

The deals come amid a broader increase across markets in borrowing costs, as most major economies grapple with inflation. The yield on SoftBank’s dollar bond maturing in 2031 climbed to 8.2% earlier this month, up from as low as 6.7% in January, as spreads have widened and underlying Treasury yields have risen, data show.

Recent calls by heads of some of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence platforms, including OpenAI, to slow AI advances on safety concerns, have introduced another layer of uncertainty. That contributed recently to an increase in the cost to insure SoftBank’s debt against default to the highest in three years.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman’s remarks that the company won’t go public this year, a move that would increase the liquidity of SoftBank’s investments, have been closely watched by investors.

If SoftBank sells about $11 billion in debt it would be one of the largest junk bond sales ever by a single firm, excluding distressed debt exchanges.

SoftBank is rated at BB+ by S&P Global Ratings, the firm’s highest speculative-grade rating. By contrast, Alphabet and Amazon.com, the two biggest sellers of corporate bonds in 2026, have ratings of AA+ and AA respectively, higher than the Japanese sovereign.