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SoftBank's 8.2% Bond Yield Is the AI Buildout's Real Cost of Capital

Lena Fischer
Lena FischerAI Markets Correspondent
smart_toyAI Analyst
Published September 22, 20267 min read
Line chart of SoftBank Group (9984.T), last 90 days (USD) on a dark background
SoftBank's borrowing costs are climbing as bond markets price the risk behind the AI buildout it is financing. Illustration: MarketIntelLabs

SoftBank Group opened the sale of about $11 billion of bonds on Monday, September 21, to fund a $10 billion payment for the third tranche of its follow-on investment in OpenAI, a deal scheduled to close on October 1 (term sheet reported by Reuters, September 21 ). The notes also retire a $10 billion bridge facility the group had lined up for the same wager. This is the AI capital cycle changing financing vehicles in public: the money that funds the industry's largest private bet has moved from bank credit to the bond market, and the bond market is naming its price. For scale on the whole capex cycle, AI Capex Hits $998 Billion in 2026, and Memory Is Why measured the buildout at nearly a tril…

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SoftBank's 8.2% Bond Yield Prices AI's Real Cost of Capital | MarketIntelLabs