Tech
tech
Jon Keegan

SoftBank is seeking a $16.5 billion loan for its huge AI plans

After announcing eye-popping investments in a bunch of huge AI projects, SoftBank is looking for a $16.5 billion bridge loan to help pay for it all, according to Bloomberg.

This would be the largest dollar-based loan that the company has taken on.

SoftBank is going all in on AI, but it may be spreading itself too thin. Two ratings agencies issued warnings for SoftBank that the company’s huge AI bets are putting the company at risk.

Here are some of the big AI plays that SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son has placed:

  • 🇺🇸 SoftBank is the lead backer of the $500 billion “Stargate” project, which aims to build massive AI infrastructure in the US with OpenAI as a partner.

  • 💰OpenAI just announced that SoftBank led a record-breaking $40 billion investment round, staking $30 billion on the startup (contingent on OpenAI’s successful pivot to a for-profit company).

  • 🤖 SoftBank is making big investments in robotics, including a $500 million investment in robotics AI startup Skild AI.

SoftBank shares were down 2.2% in early trading.

SoftBank Seeks Record $16.5 Billion Loan for AI Projects in US

SoftBank Seeks Record $16.5 Billion Loan for AI Projects in US

SoftBank is going all in on AI, but it may be spreading itself too thin. Two ratings agencies issued warnings for SoftBank that the company’s huge AI bets are putting the company at risk.

Here are some of the big AI plays that SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son has placed:

  • 🇺🇸 SoftBank is the lead backer of the $500 billion “Stargate” project, which aims to build massive AI infrastructure in the US with OpenAI as a partner.

  • 💰OpenAI just announced that SoftBank led a record-breaking $40 billion investment round, staking $30 billion on the startup (contingent on OpenAI’s successful pivot to a for-profit company).

  • 🤖 SoftBank is making big investments in robotics, including a $500 million investment in robotics AI startup Skild AI.

SoftBank shares were down 2.2% in early trading.

More Tech

See all Tech
CHINA-US-DIPLOMACY

Anthropic really doesn’t want the US to help China with AI

Anthropic made its case for freezing China out of the AI race as much as possible in a new policy paper. The company warned that letting China catch up to US AI companies could risk AI-powered mass surveillance and huge risks to monitoring AI safety.

Jon Keegan15h
Tesla Robotaxi

Tesla finally reported un-redacted information about its Robotaxi crashes

There have been a total of 17 crashes so far among its Texas Robotaxis. Read about them all here.

Rani Molla16h
tech
Rani Molla

Alphabet sold $3.6 billion in Japanese yen bonds — a record for a foreign company — likely to help its AI capex binge

We now have the value for Alphabet’s Japanese yen bond raise — 576.5 billion yen, or $3.6 billion — and it’s a record for a foreign issuer in Japan. The deal was spread across seven tranches with maturities ranging from 3 to 40 years, allowing the company to lock in rates as low as 1.965%.

The latest deal comes on the heels of Alphabet’s massive US and European bond deals, where the company has tapped global markets for nearly $60 billion in fresh capital over the last few months. In a filing earlier this week, the search giant said it would use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes.” That likely means fueling its AI infrastructure build-out, which has pushed its projected 2026 capex bill to a staggering $190 billion.

HALLUCIN-AI-TIONS
5/14/26

SYNTAX ERROR

Chris Stokel-Walker
Closeup of a Red Robot
tech
Rani Molla

Bloomberg: Relationship between OpenAI and Apple has deteriorated and legal action may be imminent

The two-year-old alliance between Apple and OpenAI has deteriorated, Bloomberg reports, with the AI giant now consulting legal counsel about issuing a potential breach of contract notice.

OpenAI executives allege that Apple failed to adequately integrate and promote ChatGPT on the iPhone, causing the AI firm to lose out on billions a year in subscriptions and hurt its brand, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Apple has expressed concerns over OpenAI’s privacy protection, and has been miffed that OpenAI has been working on its own hardware with former Apple design lead Jony Ive.

More recently, Apple, which has trailed its peers in developing AI, has decided to offer users their choice of AI models, rather than aligning exclusively with OpenAI’s.

Apple-OpenAI Relationship Frays, Setting Up Possible Legal Fight

Apple-OpenAI Relationship Frays, Setting Up Possible Legal Fight

Meanwhile, Apple has expressed concerns over OpenAI’s privacy protection, and has been miffed that OpenAI has been working on its own hardware with former Apple design lead Jony Ive.

More recently, Apple, which has trailed its peers in developing AI, has decided to offer users their choice of AI models, rather than aligning exclusively with OpenAI’s.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC and Chartr Limited produce fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and are fully owned subsidiaries of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Money, LLC, Robinhood U.K. Ltd, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, Robinhood Gold, LLC, Robinhood Asset Management, LLC, Robinhood Credit, Inc., Robinhood Ventures DE, LLC and, where applicable, its managed investment vehicles.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC