SoftBank Group is racing against a December 31 deadline to fulfill a massive $22.5 billion funding commitment to OpenAI, a move that CEO Masayoshi Son views as critical to securing his legacy in the artificial intelligence revolution.
According to sources close to the deal, the Japanese conglomerate is pulling every lever at its disposal—including the liquidation of blue-chip assets and complex debt maneuvers—to wire the funds before the year ends. The capital injection is part of a broader “all-in” strategy that has seen SoftBank pivot entirely toward generative AI, even as critics warn of a potential market bubble.
The Great Liquidation: Selling Winners to Fund Dreams
To marshal the necessary liquidity, SoftBank has been forced to part ways with some of its most lucrative holdings. In a move that surprised market watchers, Son has reportedly sold SoftBank’s entire $5.8 billion stake in chip leader Nvidia—a company whose GPUs are the very engine of the AI boom. Additionally, the firm offloaded $4.8 billion of its position in T-Mobile US.
“It is a classic Masayoshi Son play: burn the ships to take the island,” said one Tokyo-based analyst. “He is trading liquid winners today for what he believes is the singular winner of tomorrow.”
The cash crunch has rippled through the rest of the organization. Dealmaking at the once-prolific Vision Fund has slowed to a crawl, with sources indicating that any transaction over $50 million now requires Son’s explicit personal approval.
Leveraging the Arm Piggy Bank
Asset sales alone may not be enough to cover the massive check. Sources indicate that SoftBank is preparing to tap into a controversial but potent source of funds: margin loans secured by its stake in British chip designer Arm Holdings.
SoftBank recently expanded its margin loan capacity by $6.5 billion, bringing its total undrawn capacity to roughly $11.5 billion. Because Arm’s stock has tripled since its IPO—driven largely by the same AI demand fueling OpenAI—SoftBank has significant collateral headroom. By borrowing against these shares rather than selling them, Son can generate cash without losing control of the chip architecture firm that underpins the mobile world.
The “Stargate” Imperative
This transfer is urgently motivated by Project Stargate, a $500 billion joint project by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and MGX announced earlier this year that is intended to create a network of AI Data Centres throughout the US and has the potential to generate 10 gigawatts of computing capacity.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly told staff the company is in a “code red” phase, needing to scale infrastructure rapidly to fend off competition from Google’s Gemini models. SoftBank provides $22.5 billion in funding to ensure progress continues on these energy-intensive data centers, where the $40 billion-plus capital cost for adding 1 gigawatt of computing capacity each week cannot take place without this capital infusion.
Paper Gains and Valuation Arbitrage
Though there is a liquidity problem, SoftBank has a very strong financial reason to do this deal. They made this investment agreement in April 2025 when OpenAI had an estimated value of $300 billion.
Since then, OpenAI’s valuation has skyrocketed. With the company successfully transitioning to a for-profit entity in October—a key contingency for the funding—and new interest from investors like Amazon, OpenAI’s valuation is reportedly nearing $900 billion. If SoftBank closes the transaction by year-end, it will instantly realize a massive paper gain, tripling the value of its entry ticket.
Delays on the Home Front
SoftBank’s scramble has been complicated by external factors. The conglomerate had hoped to raise over $20 billion through the IPO of its payments app, PayPay, in December. However, a 43-day U.S. government shutdown pushed market debuts back, delaying the PayPay listing to the first quarter of 2026.
Simultaneously, the firm is attempting to monetize its stake in Didi Global, China’s ride-hailing giant, which is eyeing a Hong Kong listing after previous regulatory hurdles. These delays have left Son with fewer options, forcing the aggressive liquidation of liquid U.S. stocks.
As the New Year’s Eve deadline approaches, the financial world is watching to see if Masayoshi Son can pull off one of the largest cash transfers in corporate history—and whether his “all-in” bet on OpenAI will define the next decade of technology or serve as a cautionary tale of AI exuberance.
