SoftBank seeks $100bn from Gulf investors to expand AI bet

SoftBank founder and chief executive Masayoshi Son has begun outreach to Gulf sovereign and institutional investors seeking up to $100 billion to back a new fund focused on buying companies and upgrading them with artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, multiple people familiar with the matter say. The proposed vehicle would lean heavily on SoftBank’s robotics and physical-AI unit Roze, which Son hopes to take public at a lofty valuation, and would sit alongside the group’s existing stakes in AI companies including a $65 billion exposure to OpenAI.

"A contagion effect . . . could get quite bad, quite quickly," warned an Asia analyst quoted in the reporting, encapsulating investor nervousness as SoftBank balances large AI wagers with market and funding pressures.

The discussions come amid a complex backdrop for SoftBank’s balance sheet and investor sentiment. The company recently completed a record high-yield bond offering of more than $11 billion with yields up to 9.75%, and has taken loans secured against part of its Arm stake. SoftBank’s net asset value was ¥72.3 trillion at the end of June and its loan-to-value ratio stood at 13% against a 25% ceiling.

Shares of SoftBank have risen about 25% year-to-date but remain more than 30% below their June peak, when the group briefly became Japan’s most valuable company. Shares fell 5% after reports indicated OpenAI’s annualised revenue could be roughly $20 billion lower than previously signalled, feeding fresh scrutiny of SoftBank’s concentration in late-stage AI assets.

Deal mechanics and partners under question

Key details of the proposed Gulf fundraising remain unclear: there is no public term sheet, no named Gulf investor confirming interest, and SoftBank declined to comment. Abu Dhabi-linked entities MGX and G42 did not respond to requests for comment. The Gulf’s large sovereign players have prior history with SoftBank—the first $100 billion Vision Fund launched in 2017 counted Mubadala and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund among its backers.

• Purpose: Buy companies and improve them with AI and advanced technology; Roze expected to play a central role.
• Track record: Vision Fund 1 reported roughly $29 billion of cumulative gains to end-June; Vision Fund 2, which includes the OpenAI stake, stood at $20.5 billion.
• Funding strain: recent >$11bn junk-bond deal and borrowing against Arm highlight liquidity and leverage management steps.

Observers note the proposal would mark a shift from SoftBank’s previous venture-style Vision Fund approach toward an AI-led buy-and-improve model, but public reporting does not specify how the new fund would be structured, how much SoftBank itself would commit, or how it would coexist with existing funds and asset commitments.

Outlook

Should Gulf investors agree to participate, the move would be among the largest private capital allocations to AI to date and would reinforce the Gulf’s growing influence in global technology investing. However, multiple caveats apply: talks are not guaranteed to succeed; SoftBank faces concentrated exposure to late-stage AI assets; and market sensitivity to OpenAI valuations could influence Gulf appetite. With an Anthropic IPO also anticipated in coming weeks and broader uncertainty around late-stage AI valuations, the size and timing of any Gulf commitment will be closely watched by investors and portfolio companies alike.