OpenAI and SoftBank Group announce $1 billion investment in SB Energy as part of massive A

January 9, 2026

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attend an event to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo, Japan Feb. 3, 2025.
Kim Kyung-Hoon | Reuters

OpenAI and SoftBank Group announced plans to invest $1 billion in SB Energy as part of a strategic partnership that will support OpenAI’s artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout.

The partnership is part of the $500 billion Stargate commitment that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracleannounced in September.

“Partnering with SB Energy brings together their strength in data center infrastructure and energy development and OpenAI’s deep domain expertise in data center engineering,” Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, said in a statement on Friday.The result is a fast, reliable way to scale compute through large, highly optimized AI data centers.”

SB Energy is backed by SoftBank and Ares Management.