Regulatory Clearances Position DigitalBridge as SoftBank’s AI Infrastructure Platform

From AI investor to infrastructure controller

SoftBank’s AI strategy has increasingly combined large technology bets with balance-sheet financing and infrastructure exposure. On September 24, SoftBank announced approximately $11.1 billion of U.S. dollar- and euro-denominated senior notes, consisting of $10 billion in dollar notes and €1 billion in euro notes.¹ The company said proceeds would help fund a $10 billion payment for the third and final tranche of its $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI Group PBC, expected to close on October 1, 2026, while also supporting general corporate purposes.¹

That financing sits alongside the DigitalBridge acquisition as part of a broader strategic pattern. OpenAI gives SoftBank exposure to frontier AI demand. DigitalBridge gives it an operating and investment platform tied to the physical assets that demand requires: data centers, connectivity, edge sites and related infrastructure.

The combination suggests SoftBank is not merely buying AI upside. It is trying to shape the infrastructure bottlenecks that will determine who can deploy AI at scale.

Reuters reported that SoftBank has committed $64.6 billion to OpenAI and additional billions to related AI infrastructure projects, describing the bond sale as part of Masayoshi Son’s push to make SoftBank a dominant AI investor.² That ambition requires more than model exposure. It requires access to long-duration capital, power-aware real estate, hyperscale development capabilities and operators that can package infrastructure assets for institutional investors.

DigitalBridge brings an asset-management engine

DigitalBridge’s value to SoftBank lies in its combination of operating knowledge and private-capital infrastructure management. The company describes itself as a global alternative asset manager dedicated to digital infrastructure, with more than 30 years of experience investing in and operating businesses across the digital ecosystem.⁸

That matters because AI infrastructure is becoming an investment product as much as a technology category. Data centers require large upfront capital, long development timelines, power procurement, grid interconnection, tenant underwriting and asset-level financing. A manager such as DigitalBridge can help SoftBank organize these exposures into investable platforms rather than one-off corporate investments.

DigitalBridge’s activity outside pure data centers also shows why the platform is useful to a capital allocator. On September 23, the company and Aberdeen Investments completed the combination of ZEmobility and VGMobility, creating a sustainable transportation platform with more than 5,400 buses across Latin America.⁷

Although transport is not AI infrastructure, the transaction illustrates DigitalBridge’s broader model: aggregating infrastructure assets, managing contracted platforms and working with institutional capital across long-duration real assets.

For AI infrastructure readers, that model is the point. SoftBank is acquiring an organization that can source, structure and manage infrastructure assets, not simply another technology holding.

The cost of control is rising

SoftBank’s infrastructure ambitions are being financed in a less forgiving capital market. Its September note issuance carries high coupon costs: the dollar notes include 8.625%, 9.25% and 9.75% tranches, while the euro notes carry 7.125% and 8.000% interest rates.¹

Reuters reported that the deal is set to be the largest high-yield bond sale on record by an Asia-Pacific issuer and said it is likely to intensify scrutiny of SoftBank’s finances if sentiment toward OpenAI or AI companies weakens.²

The bond market response shows both investor appetite and risk. Seoul Economic Daily reported that SoftBank’s junk-bond sale drew more than $20 billion in demand, while noting that yields exceeded average levels for issuers with SoftBank’s credit rating.⁴ The result is a familiar private-capital trade-off: SoftBank is gaining strategic control and optionality, but it is doing so with expensive debt.

This matters for DigitalBridge because infrastructure platforms are capital-intensive. If SoftBank uses DigitalBridge to scale AI-related data center or connectivity exposure, returns will depend not only on tenant demand and asset performance, but also on the cost and durability of financing.

Regulatory approval reduces execution risk

The regulatory approvals are important because digital infrastructure now sits at the intersection of national security, energy policy and competition review. CFIUS clearance addresses foreign-investment concerns in the United States. FERC approval reflects the growing relevance of energy regulation to digital infrastructure. Antitrust and foreign-investment approvals clear other jurisdictional hurdles.⁸

That does not remove execution risk. SoftBank still must integrate DigitalBridge, determine how the manager fits with its existing AI investments and avoid overconcentration in a cycle where capital costs, power availability and AI demand forecasts are all moving quickly. But the approvals substantially reduce the risk that the deal fails for regulatory reasons.

The strategic implication is clear: SoftBank is moving from AI exposure toward AI infrastructure control. DigitalBridge gives it a platform for managing the physical and financial layers beneath AI deployment, while the OpenAI financing shows SoftBank’s willingness to use its balance sheet to secure demand-side relevance. Regulatory clearance makes that platform available just as AI infrastructure becomes one of the defining private-capital themes of the cycle.