SoftBank Targets Retail Investors for 1 Trillion Yen Bond Issuance to Fuel AI and Robotics Investments

The SoftBank Group is planning a significant corporate bond issuance targeting retail investors in Japan. This offering will amount to approximately 1 trillion yen (US$6.26 billion), marking the largest ever issued by a Japanese company for retail investors. The move comes amid an intensified global focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, areas where the Japanese conglomerate has been heavily investing. Additionally, this strategy reflects the growing trend of seeking new channels to raise capital in Japan—a country with an aging economy and highly concentrated large institutional investors. While the financial terms of the bond are still being determined, analysts predict that the interest rate will exceed 4%. The proceeds from these bonds will be used for refinancing other debt and funding projects in physical AI, such as the recent acquisition of the robotics division of Swiss engineering company ABB for US$5.4 billion. The resources will also be utilized to repay bridge loans obtained from Japanese and American financial institutions aimed at financing additional investments in the American organization dedicated to AI research, OpenAI. SoftBank aims to allocate a total of 10 trillion yen by October to expand its investments in this strategic area.