Softbank has raised $11.1 billion in dollar- and euro-denominated bonds in the largest high-yield corporate bond sale globally on record as the Japanese conglomerate seeks to fund its investment in OpenAI.
The funding follows a 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion) bond issue aimed at retail investors this month, and is likely to prompt scrutiny of Softbank’s finances, which would become at risk if OpenAI’s appeal in markets weakens.
According to reports, Softbank, under CEO Masayoshi Son, has committed $64.6 billion to the ChatGPT-maker, of which it will own roughly 13% by next week, in a bid to make the conglomerate the most prominent investor in AI.
READ: SoftBank launches $11 billion bond sale to fund OpenAI investment (September 21, 2026)
The size of its AI-related investments and the amount of money it has sought to fund them has led to higher yields to pay for SoftBank, which has long been a junk-bond issuer, as well as jumps in the cost of insuring its debt against default.
“I was positively surprised by the market appetite,” said Satoru Aoyama, senior director at Fitch Ratings.
“Hyperscalers in the US have been raising debt but they have high credit ratings. Now AI-driven debt issuance has reached the high-yield market at scale,” Aoyama said.
According to data from LSEG, the value of bond sales from hyperscalers has more than doubled this year to over $200 billion. Analysts believe this would only rise.
READ: SoftBank renews talks for $10 billion loan using OpenAI stake (July 2, 2026)
SoftBank issued dollar-denominated senior notes of $1 billion at a 3-1/2-year term, $4.5 billion at 5-1/2 years and $4.5 billion at 7-1/2 years, a filing showed. The bonds pay interest rates of 8.625%, 9.25% and 9.75% respectively. It also issued two €500 million tranches of euro-denominated senior notes with terms of four and six years, yielding 7.125% and 8%.
According to a CNBC report, shares of Softbank group jumped more than 7% after Japanese markets opened for the first time this week following a three-day holiday and the conglomerate announced the bond issuance.
Like SoftBank, hyperscalers have also expanded their borrowing beyond the US dollar bond market. They have been increasingly tapping the euro and other currencies this year to diversify their funding sources given their massive financing needs. The sale marks the largest high-yield corporate bond issuance globally to date, surpassing French telecoms firm Numericable Group’s $10.9 billion issuance in 2014, LSEG data showed.