SoftBank plans record ¥1T bond sale to fund OpenAI investments

SoftBank Group is preparing to sell ¥1 trillion in retail bonds in Japan, roughly $6.3 billion, making it the largest bond issuance by any entity in the country’s history. The proceeds will fuel the company’s increasingly massive investment in OpenAI, which has now surpassed $60 billion in total commitments.

The 7-year bond is expected to price on September 4, with an indicative coupon rate between 4.3% and 4.9%. With Japan’s benchmark 10-year government bond rate sitting at multi-decade highs, the broader environment has made fixed-income products more attractive to retail buyers.

A funding machine running on overdrive

This isn’t even SoftBank’s first retail bond rodeo this year. It’s the third.

The company sold ¥418 billion in bonds in April, followed by another ¥260 billion tranche in June. Adding the new ¥1 trillion offering, SoftBank will have raised roughly ¥1.68 trillion from Japanese retail investors in 2026 alone.

Beyond the bond market, SoftBank has also arranged a $40 billion unsecured bridge loan maturing in March 2027. That facility supports both the OpenAI investments and related infrastructure development.

The OpenAI bet keeps getting bigger

SoftBank’s total commitments to OpenAI now exceed $60 billion. Through its Vision Fund 2, the company is targeting an ownership stake of approximately 11% to 13% in OpenAI.

In February 2026, SoftBank announced a $30 billion commitment to OpenAI, structured in three equal tranches of $10 billion each.

S&P Global Ratings upgraded SoftBank’s outlook to stable from negative on July 16, citing significant improvement in key financial ratios.

The $40 billion bridge loan maturing in March 2027 adds a time pressure element. SoftBank will need to either refinance that facility, pay it down with proceeds from other sources, or convert it into longer-term debt. The retail bond strategy appears to be part of that broader refinancing puzzle, spreading the debt load across a wider investor base and extending maturities.

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