SoftBank has completed its $4 billion acquisition of DigitalBridge, positioning the digital infrastructure manager as its third-party infrastructure arm. The deal allows SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son to raise institutional capital for massive AI data center and power projects, bypassing SoftBank's balance sheet constraints. While DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi warns of a cooling data center market, the acquisition secures a key layer of SoftBank's broader AI strategy alongside Arm and OpenAI.
SoftBank acquisition of DigitalBridge
- ▪SoftBank completed its acquisition of DigitalBridge in the week leading up to October 4, 2026, valuing DigitalBridge at approximately $4 billion including debt.
- ▪The acquisition of DigitalBridge by SoftBank is intended to help Masayoshi Son finance large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure projects that exceed the capacity of SoftBank's balance sheet alone.
SoftBank AI infrastructure financing strategy
- ▪Masayoshi Son's artificial intelligence strategy aims to control three layers: large language models through OpenAI, chips through Arm, and power and data centres through DigitalBridge.
- ▪SB Energy, a SoftBank-controlled group tasked with building data centres for OpenAI, slowed its preparations for an initial public offering.
- ▪SoftBank launched a large junk-bond deal this month to help fund its investment in OpenAI.
DigitalBridge third-party capital model
- ▪DigitalBridge and SoftBank plan to refer deals to each other, with SoftBank passing infrastructure and power opportunities to DigitalBridge, and DigitalBridge referring private equity-type deals to SoftBank.
- ▪DigitalBridge will operate as SoftBank's third-party infrastructure arm, raising capital from institutional investors to finance data centres, power, and other projects.
- ▪SoftBank will anchor future funds raised by DigitalBridge to accelerate fundraising, while DigitalBridge will remain independent and not consolidated into SoftBank.
Data centre market valuation
- ▪DigitalBridge Chief Executive Officer Marc Ganzi warned that approximately half of the data centre leases signed in 2026 would not be built due to hostile zoning, reluctant utility regulators, and tighter financing.
- ▪DigitalBridge Chief Executive Officer Marc Ganzi stated that the market peak for data centres has passed, noting that data centres are no longer trading at 40 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
Power infrastructure for AI
- ▪DigitalBridge holds significant stakes in digital infrastructure assets, including data centre operators Vantage, Switch, and DataBank, as well as the fibre network operator Zayo.
- ▪DigitalBridge agreed to acquire power investor ArcLight Capital Partners in May 2026.
Debatable claims
- ▪SoftBank's debt-fueled AI expansion poses unacceptable financial risks
- ▪SoftBank's vertical integration of the AI stack threatens healthy market competition
- ▪Regulators should ease zoning and utility restrictions to accelerate AI data center construction
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