SoftBank Finalizes $40 Billion Investment in OpenAI as AI Funding Round Closes
SoftBank has completed its massive $40 billion investment in OpenAI, marking one of the largest private technology funding rounds and reinforcing its strategic focus on artificial intelligence.
SoftBank Group Corp. has fully completed its long-anticipated $40 billion investment in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence developer behind ChatGPT, according to multiple reports citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The milestone brings to a close a funding commitment first agreed in March 2025, when SoftBank announced it would lead what was projected to be the largest private technology funding round in history. Under the deal’s structure, SoftBank and its co-investors committed capital in phases, with the final tranche of $22 billion-$22.5 billion transmitted in December 2025.
SoftBank’s investment supports OpenAI’s rapid expansion in AI research, computational infrastructure, and commercial deployments, and reflects the Japanese conglomerate’s broader strategy to position itself at the forefront of next-generation technology. As part of the broader round, third-party co-investors also participated, bringing total funding to roughly $41 billion. SoftBank’s ownership stake in OpenAI is now estimated at around 11 %.
To help finance the massive investment, SoftBank sold significant holdings in other technology assets earlier in 2025, including its Nvidia stake, which generated billions of dollars in liquidity for the AI commitment.
The completion of this funding round underscores the continued surge of capital into artificial intelligence, even amid broader market volatility. OpenAI, valued at an estimated $500 billion after a secondary share sale in October, remains a central player in the global AI race as demand for large-scale AI applications and computational infrastructure grows.
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