SoftBank Scrambles to Secure $22.5 Billion for OpenAI's Stargate Project December 22, 2025 The global race for artificial intelligence supremacy is increasingly being fought in the data center, where building the massive computing infrastructure required for next-generation AI models demands unprecedented capital. This financial pressure is now acutely felt by one of the world's most prominent tech investors, SoftBank Group, as it works to fulfill a monumental funding commitment. According to a report from Reuters, the Japanese investment conglomerate is actively seeking to raise $22.5 billion to meet a year-end funding obligation to OpenAI. SoftBank was a founding partner in OpenAI's ambitious "Stargate" initiative, a multi-gigawatt global network of AI data centers unveiled in January. The company has pledged a total of $30 billion to OpenAI, with an initial $19 billion earmarked specifically for the Stargate project. To amass the necessary capital, SoftBank has undertaken a series of major asset sales. As previously reported, the group sold its entire stake in GPU leader Nvidia for approximately $5.83 billion and divested a portion of its shares in T-Mobile US for $9.2 billion. Reuters indicates the company is now exploring additional avenues, including the potential sale of shares in Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi. A public listing of its PayPay payments app could also generate funds, though that is more likely to occur in early 2026. Insiders familiar with the matter told Reuters that SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has personally taken control of the large-scale funding effort, requiring his direct approval for major investments. The company may also leverage its majority stake in British chip designer Arm, with a reported borrowing capacity of up to $11.5 billion against the valuable asset. The frantic fundraising underscores the staggering scale of investment required to compete at the forefront of AI development. SoftBank's all-in bet on OpenAI positions it at the center of an industry-wide infrastructure build-out, but also highlights the immense financial challenges even the best-capitalized players face. The outcome of this capital raise will be closely watched as a bellwether for the continued flow of investment into the foundational hardware of the AI era. Source: datacenterdynamics
SoftBank Scrambles to Secure $22.5 Billion for OpenAI's Stargate Project
