SoftBank Group plans to issue a record 1 trillion yen retail bonds in Japan to raise capital for its investment commitment to OpenAI. According to documents submitted by the company, this batch of 7-year bonds is expected to be priced on September 4, and the coupon rate guideline range is 4.3% to 4.9%. SoftBank has promised to invest more than $60 billion in ChatGPT developer OpenAI and is speeding up data center investments to expand the scale of computing power. At the same time, questions about how to commercialize artificial intelligence technology remain. In addition, issues such as overcapacity, growing corporate debt, and the circularity of many AI financing transactions have also raised concerns. “SoftBank is betting that retail investors will buy such products that provide higher yields, and in the current scarcity of fixed-income products that can beat inflation, it seems confident that it will meet market demand,” said Yuuki Fukumoto, a senior financial researcher at the NLI Research Institute. “Due to factors such as weak deposit growth, credit ratings, and seven-year terms, it is more difficult for banks to bear the associated risks, so the issuance of this bond is more dependent on the needs of retail investors.”

SoftBank Group plans to issue a record 1 trillion yen retail bonds in Japan to raise capital for its investment commitment to OpenAI. According to documents submitted by the company, this batch of 7-year bonds is expected to be priced on September 4, and the coupon rate guideline range is 4.3% to 4.9%. SoftBank has promised to invest more than $60 billion in ChatGPT developer OpenAI and is speeding up data center investments to expand the scale of computing power. At the same time, questions about how to commercialize artificial intelligence technology remain. In addition, issues such as overcapacity, growing corporate debt, and the circularity of many AI financing transactions have also raised concerns. “SoftBank is betting that retail investors will buy such products that provide higher yields, and in the current scarcity of fixed-income products that can beat inflation, it seems confident that it will meet market demand,” said Yuuki Fukumoto, a senior financial researcher at the NLI Research Institute. “Due to factors such as weak deposit growth, credit ratings, and seven-year terms, it is more difficult for banks to bear the associated risks, so the issuance of this bond is more dependent on the needs of retail investors.”