SoftBank offers $5.5B in stock warrants to lock OpenAI into its data center empire

When you really want a tenant to sign the lease, you might offer a month of free rent. When the tenant is OpenAI and the landlord is SoftBank’s energy subsidiary, you offer $5.5 billion in stock warrants instead.

SB Energy, the SoftBank subsidiary building out massive AI data center campuses, has offered OpenAI warrants valued at roughly $5.5 billion to secure its long-term commitment as a tenant. The move comes as SB Energy prepares for an initial public offering targeting $5 to $7 billion in proceeds, making the warrant deal both a retention play and a pre-IPO sweetener rolled into one.

The anatomy of a $5.5 billion handshake

Stock warrants give the holder the right to buy shares at a set price in the future. In this case, OpenAI would gain the option to acquire equity in SB Energy at favorable terms, effectively giving it a financial stake in the very infrastructure it depends on.

This isn’t the first financial entanglement between the two. Back in January 2026, OpenAI and SoftBank each invested $500 million in SB Energy, alongside a lease agreement for a 1.2 gigawatt facility in Texas. Then in mid-August 2026, SB Energy announced an even larger project: a 10 gigawatt-scale data center campus in Ohio. OpenAI signed a 20-year lease for the facility, with initial capacity targeted for operations by 2028. Nvidia is also providing financial backing for the Ohio development.

SoftBank’s $64 billion OpenAI bet

The warrant deal is just the latest chapter in what has become one of the most expensive corporate relationships in tech history. SoftBank’s cumulative investments in OpenAI now exceed $64 billion, making it one of the single largest financial backers of the AI company.

The investments flow through multiple channels. There’s the direct equity in OpenAI itself, the joint investments in SB Energy, and now the Stargate AI infrastructure initiative that ties everything together. Masayoshi Son’s thesis appears straightforward: own the AI model layer through OpenAI, own the physical infrastructure layer through SB Energy, and create enough interdependence that neither side has reason to walk away.

By giving OpenAI equity upside in the data center business, SoftBank ensures that OpenAI’s financial interests are aligned with keeping those facilities full and operational for decades.

Why this matters for the AI infrastructure race

SB Energy’s planned IPO, targeting $5 to $7 billion, would provide additional capital to fund this buildout while also giving public market investors a way to bet on AI infrastructure demand. The participation of OpenAI, SoftBank, and Nvidia in the offering creates a unique dynamic where the company’s biggest customer, parent company, and key hardware supplier all have skin in the game.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.