SoftBank Group lost ¥768.0bn attributable to owners of the parent in the six months to 30 September 2026, against a ¥2.92tn profit a year earlier, according to its interim securities report. The pre-tax loss was ¥438.7bn on revenue of ¥4.24tn. The report holds three separate stories: a ¥597.2bn loss on the procurement of US data-center power equipment, much smaller investment gains than a year earlier, and a much heavier debt load.
The power-equipment charge
The largest single item is ¥597.2bn, booked in "other gains and losses" for changes to the procurement plan for power-generation equipment serving US AI data-center projects. It splits into ¥457.0bn on non-refundable advance payments for manufacturing capacity and equipment purchases, and ¥140.2bn on contract changes and settlements.
The equipment is bought by Silver Bands 7 LLC, a subsidiary funded by SoftBank and its Vision Fund 2, for projects including the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. It revisited its sourcing strategy after requirements changed at existing and planned projects. Its cumulative payments for the equipment stand at ¥1.50tn ($9.48bn).
The supplier has granted Silver Bands 7 a right to discounts of up to $2.1bn on future purchases over ten years, under certain conditions. SoftBank has not booked that right as an asset because the amount cannot yet be fixed.
Investment gains
Investment gains fell to ¥1.73tn from ¥3.93tn. The holding-company business booked ¥1.08tn, of which ¥1.06tn came from a higher Intel share price; the Vision Fund business booked ¥705.6bn. SoftBank booked no investment gain or loss on OpenAI in the period, and the report says OpenAI's valuation is unchanged from the previous year-end.
The Intel gain has a counterweight. SoftBank raised $7.35bn in August with a forward sale contract over all its Intel shares, and the rising share price produced a ¥321.9bn derivative loss on that contract. Financial costs rose ¥450.6bn to ¥790.7bn. Operating cash flow was an outflow of ¥527.3bn, including ¥735.4bn of interest paid.
Debt and funding
Consolidated interest-bearing debt rose ¥7.91tn from the end of March to ¥32.59tn. SoftBank Group's own debt rose ¥6.16tn to ¥23.90tn, a measure that includes its funding subsidiaries, SB Northstar and a $10bn loan agreement that makes use of OpenAI shares held by Vision Fund 2. The equity ratio fell to 23.6% from 29.0%.
SoftBank repaid in full the $30bn it had drawn under a $40bn bridge facility signed in March, and cancelled the undrawn $10bn on 30 September. The money came mainly from an $11.87bn term loan due in September 2028, the Intel forward and a $5bn increase in a margin loan secured on Arm shares. A third and final $10bn OpenAI tranche was paid on 1 October with bond proceeds, taking cumulative investment to $64.6bn. Earlier Tokyo Brief coverage
Some of this debt carries conditions. The term loan requires SoftBank to avoid a net-liabilities position, to hold cash covering the next 12 months of its bond redemptions, and to keep net senior debt below 70% of its listed holdings. The $10bn loan linked to OpenAI shares is secured on a cash account and guaranteed by SoftBank Group, and has cash-collateral and early-repayment triggers tied to a sharp fall in the value of the OpenAI preferred shares. The Arm-backed loan has similar triggers and is non-recourse to SoftBank Group.
What comes next
Energy Global's data-center and solar plan in Ohio, Texas and elsewhere has $178bn of planned spending, financed mainly through project finance, with work started in July 2026 and completion due in July 2032. SoftBank warns that if external funding does not arrive on the timing, scale or terms it expects, the plan may not proceed as assumed, and that delays or cancellations could bring further losses on assets bought for AI infrastructure.
Two other items are unfinished. SoftBank bought DigitalBridge on 30 September for $3.1bn, with provisional goodwill of ¥276.3bn; its earnings enter the accounts from the quarter ending 31 December 2026. And on 4 November, SoftBank confirmed it had received notice from China's foreign-investment security review office prohibiting the acquisition of ABB's robotics business in China.