SoftBank Posts $7 Billion Quarterly Loss, but Shares Jump 13.9%
SoftBank Group reported a fiscal second-quarter net loss of 1.12 trillion yen ($7 billion) on Tuesday, citing a U.S. AI data center equipment charge and falling Intel shares. Its stock still closed 13.9% higher as Asian tech shares rebounded.
SoftBank Group swung to a fiscal second-quarter net loss of 1.12 trillion yen ($7 billion) on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, as a charge tied to U.S. AI data center equipment and a drop in Intel shares weighed on earnings. A year earlier, the Japanese investment giant booked a net profit of 2.5 trillion yen.
Investors looked past the loss. SoftBank shares closed 13.9% higher on Tuesday, as Asian technology stocks including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose after an overnight rebound on Wall Street.
The data center charge
SoftBank recorded a 597.2 billion yen ($3.7 billion) loss in the six months ending September 30. The cause was changes in procurement plans for power generation equipment at its U.S. AI data center projects.
The company had paid in advance to secure that equipment, fearing shortages and long lead times. Power is becoming a key constraint for AI data center construction, as grids struggle with applications from large energy users.
"We made bridge investments in advance to secure power generation equipment in anticipation of shortage," a SoftBank executive said on the earnings call.
Cumulative payments for power equipment at U.S. projects, including the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio, reached $9.48 billion at the end of September.
Revenue and Vision Fund results
Quarterly revenue came in at 2.22 trillion yen, against LSEG estimates of 2.02 trillion yen. Revenue rose 13.3% over the six months, helped by growth in telecommunications and AI computing.
The Vision Fund segment swung to a loss of 81.58 billion yen in the quarter, compared with a profit of 2.38 trillion yen a year earlier. Shares of listed portfolio companies, including Coupang and Grab, declined.
Vision Fund 1 recorded an investment loss of $20 million despite a $1.3 billion gain on ByteDance. Across both Vision Funds, investment gains totaled 85.45 billion yen, down from 2.81 trillion yen a year earlier.
OpenAI stake
SoftBank's cumulative investment in OpenAI stood at $54.6 billion at the end of September. Its fair value was $99.6 billion, a cumulative gain of $45 billion, according to the company.
A possible rise in OpenAI's valuation after a new funding round is not yet in the results, pending an official announcement. SoftBank said it could appear in the fiscal third quarter and lift its net asset value and improve its loan-to-value ratio.
"ChatGPT has been continuously a weapon of OpenAI, especially for consumers," the SoftBank executive said, pointing to the chatbot's growing user base.
SoftBank also highlighted a 20-year lease with OpenAI for eight gigawatts of IT capacity at an Ohio data center project. On water-use concerns at a planned Texas site, it said it would use a closed-loop, air-cooled system and hire and source locally.
