SoftBank’s $3.7B AI Power Gear Reset Deepens Its Loss

SoftBank Group booked a ¥597.2 billion ($3.7 billion) loss tied to a U.S. AI data-center power-equipment procurement reset, its financial report showed on November 10, 2026. The charge followed earlier commitments to secure generators amid expected shortages, then reversed as requirements changed at existing and planned campuses.

The loss did not mark a retreat from the two OpenAI campus projects in SoftBank’s portfolio. Its summary still listed a Pike County, Ohio, campus preparing for construction and a Milam County, Texas, data center under construction.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2026, SoftBank reported a net loss attributable to owners of the parent of ¥1.1 trillion, compared with ¥2.5 trillion in net income a year earlier. The procurement reversal was one major pressure on the result, alongside lower investment gains and sharply higher financing costs.

The filing connects long-term computing leases with the cost of securing power-generation equipment. For SoftBank, the strategic test is whether manufacturing capacity, purchase contracts and financing remain aligned when data-center requirements change after those commitments are made.

What changed in SoftBank’s power-equipment plan?

Silver Bands 7 LLC, a subsidiary backed by SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund II-2, held the procurement commitments. The company had reserved manufacturing capacity and agreed to equipment purchases to secure power-generation gear ahead of anticipated supply constraints.

It revised that strategy as requirements evolved at existing and planned projects. According to SoftBank’s financial report, the loss comprised two dollar-denominated components that together reached $3.73 billion.

• $2.85 billion related to non-refundable advance payments.
• $0.88 billion related to contract modifications and settlements.

SoftBank’s accounting presentation separates cash timing from the loss. The company had already paid the $2.85 billion in advances. The $0.88 billion for contract modifications and settlements remained a future cash obligation, which SoftBank expected from the third fiscal quarter onward.

Silver Bands 7 is separate from SB Energy. The derecognized advances covered power-generation equipment no longer included in the revised procurement plans, so the loss reflects a changed procurement plan rather than a blanket termination of SoftBank’s U.S. campus commitments.

SoftBank’s records therefore separate a costly procurement reset from a cancellation of the two campuses. The loss eliminated booked value tied to equipment outside the revised plan, while the portfolio continued to carry contracted IT capacity.

How much procurement spending remained allocated?

SoftBank’s report put cumulative procurement payments at $9.5 billion from the previous fiscal year through September 30, 2026. The figure covered the period in which SoftBank committed money to power-generation equipment and then revised those commitments.

At quarter-end, $6.6 billion remained allocated to equipment purchases for the PORTS-Pike power-generation project and other projects. That allocation covered purchases still inside the revised procurement structure, unlike the advances tied to removed equipment.

Silver Bands 7 also gained rights to rebates of up to $2.1 billion over the next 10 years on future equipment purchases. The rebate arrangement remained subject to conditions.

SoftBank recognized no asset for those rights because the amount it expected to receive remained undetermined. The potential rebates therefore did not offset the procurement loss on the balance sheet at the reporting date.

The disclosure leaves recovery dependent on future purchasing and performance under the rebate terms. It also exposes SoftBank to the gap between cash already committed and the amounts that project finance can recover over time.

How did financing costs compound the loss?

The procurement charge was not the only pressure on earnings. SoftBank’s six-month results also showed a sharp fall in portfolio gains and a surge in the cost of borrowed money.

Total investment gains fell 56.0% year over year to ¥1.73 trillion for the six-month period. Finance cost more than doubled to ¥790.7 billion over the same period.

SoftBank attributed the financing-cost increase to three factors:

• Larger borrowing and corporate-bond balances.
• Higher funding rates.
• Full recognition of remaining unamortized financing costs when bridge loans were repaid early.

The bridge-loan item came from repayment before the scheduled end of those facilities, which triggered recognition of the remaining unamortized costs. The other two drivers, more debt and higher rates, came from the scale and price of funding itself.

Together, the 56.0% drop in investment gains and the rise in finance cost to ¥790.7 billion weighed on results from a different direction than the equipment loss. For SoftBank’s AI infrastructure strategy, financing conditions now matter alongside power-equipment availability.

The market stakes sit in a plan that depends on project finance to recover bridge spending made ahead of shortages. Higher funding rates and larger borrowing balances raise the cost of carrying that strategy, even as investment gains recede.

Are the OpenAI data-center projects being cancelled?

No cancellation appears in SoftBank’s portfolio summary. SoftBank characterized the procurement loss as “unrelated to PORTS-Pike,” while still reporting a major charge tied to revised power-generation procurement.

• Pike County, Ohio: The campus was preparing for construction, with 8.0 gigawatts of planned IT capacity. Its 20-year OpenAI lease was signed on August 17, 2026.
• Milam County, Texas: The data center was under construction, with 753 megawatts of planned IT capacity and a 15-year OpenAI contract.

Those status labels place the Ohio campus before construction and the Texas campus in construction. SoftBank’s summary therefore documented continued development, not the abandonment of either project.

The accounting reset and campus status answer separate questions. The loss concerned equipment dropped from the revised procurement plan; the Ohio and Texas commitments continued through a 20-year OpenAI lease and a 15-year OpenAI contract.

At 8.0 gigawatts of IT capacity for Ohio and 753 megawatts for Texas, the projects remain tied to OpenAI through the disclosed lease and contract. The capacity commitments continued even as SoftBank reversed part of its power-equipment procurement.

Can project finance absorb the remaining bridge investment?

SoftBank’s earnings presentation described the advance equipment spending as “bridge investments” made “ahead of shortages,” with recovery expected through project financing. The structure treats early equipment cash as a temporary bridge rather than the final funding source.

Under SoftBank’s illustrative development structure, a special-purpose company would fund data-center buildings and power infrastructure through project finance without recourse to SoftBank Group. The offtaker would provide servers and other IT equipment, separating those assets from the special-purpose company’s financing role.

SoftBank’s ability to recover the remaining bridge investment through project finance will shape the longer-term cost of securing power infrastructure. Satisfying the rebate conditions is a separate requirement because SoftBank recognized no asset for the potential $2.1 billion.

That leaves the accounting loss tied to execution rather than a disclosed cancellation. Future project-finance terms, equipment purchases and rebate performance will determine how much of the committed spending SoftBank ultimately recovers.

The next test is whether SoftBank can convert its remaining bridge spending and conditional rebates into financeable power infrastructure without repeating a ¥597.2 billion procurement reset.