Economy: SoftBank incurs $7 billion in losses, AI bet turns sour

Coin Encyclopedia Improve your knowledge of cryptos

SoftBank had paid, through its subsidiary Silver Bands 7, deposits to secure electricity production equipment for several data center projects in the United States. Among them is a campus in Pike County, Ohio. The group thus sought to reserve upstream manufacturing capacities, while the equipment necessary for these installations can require long delivery times.

SoftBank then revised its supply plans. This change led it to record a charge of 597 billion yen, or approximately $3.7 billion, linked to the sums already advanced. The group says it could benefit from $2.1 billion in discounts on future purchases. Their value therefore depends on the orders he subsequently places.

The financial director, Yoshimitsu Goto, continues to defend these projects, which he anticipates will ramp up over five to ten years. The quarter, however, shows the cost of a decision taken very early in the development of a data center: reserving electrical equipment reduces the risk of delay, but commits funds before the needs of the site are definitively decided.

Financing costs reached 462 billion yen between July and September, more than double their level a year earlier. Among the operations of the quarter are a loan of 11.87 billion dollars, a bond issue of 10 billion dollars and another of 6 billion. SoftBank also increased the loan amount secured by its stake in chip designer Arm by $5 billion, to around $25 billion.

This financing supports the group's investments in artificial intelligence, including a stake of around 13% in OpenAI. Reuters estimates its acquisition cost at $64.6 billion. A year earlier, the increase in the value of this stake had contributed significantly to SoftBank's quarterly profit. Over the period from July to September 2026, its valuation remained stable.

SoftBank thus commits capital several years before its data centers can generate revenue. By then, the interest on the debt is already weighing on its accounts, as is the cost of changes made to current projects.

An editorial article. Le Journal du Coin, the first French-speaking news media on cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and blockchain protocols.

Machine-translated from French