SoftBank to Acquire Digital Infrastructure Giant DigitalBridge in $4 Billion Deal

SoftBank to Acquire Digital Infrastructure Giant DigitalBridge in $4 Billion Deal December 29, 2025 In a major consolidation move within the digital infrastructure sector, Japan's SoftBank Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire the investment firm DigitalBridge Group, Inc. for approximately $4 billion. The deal underscores the intensifying race to control the physical assets powering the global artificial intelligence boom. The acquisition, confirmed on Tuesday, will see SoftBank take ownership of a leading digital infrastructure investor with a vast global portfolio. As of the end of September, DigitalBridge managed assets worth around $108 billion, including stakes in prominent data center operators such as Vantage Data Centers, DataBank, Switch, and Yondr Group, as well as holdings in telecom towers and fiber networks. The company's portfolio represents a significant 5.4 gigawatts of data center capacity either in operation or under development. For SoftBank, led by its visionary and often controversial founder Masayoshi Son, the purchase represents a strategic pivot to secure a foundational role in the AI infrastructure landscape. The conglomerate has been aggressively repositioning itself to capitalize on generative AI, a ambition complicated by its substantial debt load. Notably, SoftBank is a key financial backer of OpenAI's ambitious "Stargate" data center project, and a DigitalBridge portfolio company, Vantage, is already involved in building a near-gigawatt facility in Wisconsin for the initiative. "As AI transforms industries worldwide, we need more compute, connectivity, power, and scalable infrastructure," said Masayoshi Son. "DigitalBridge is a leader in digital infrastructure, and this acquisition will strengthen the foundation for next-generation AI data centers, advance our vision to become a leading ASI platform provider, and help unlock breakthroughs that move humanity forward." DigitalBridge's CEO, Marc Ganzi, echoed the strategic rationale, stating, "The buildout of AI infrastructure represents one of the most significant investment opportunities of our generation. SoftBank shares our DNA as builders and long-term investors committed to scaling transformational digital infrastructure." The transaction, which values DigitalBridge at a significant premium over its rumored $1.8 billion valuation earlier in December, is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Upon completion, DigitalBridge will continue to operate as a separately managed platform under Ganzi's leadership. This deal follows reports that SoftBank is also separately in talks to acquire data center operator Switch, signaling a comprehensive strategy to build a dominant AI infrastructure empire. Industry analysts view the acquisition as a watershed moment, likely accelerating investment and construction cycles for high-capacity data centers needed to train and run advanced AI models. It also highlights the growing convergence of capital, technology vision, and physical asset management in the sector. Source: datacenterdynamics