SoftBank increases Arm share-backed loan to $25 billions to support AI investment

People familiar with the matter said that SoftBank Group has increased its margin loan secured by shares in its chip subsidiary Arm by $5 billion, bringing the total to $25 billion. The conglomerate is seeking funds for its expanding investments in AI. According to these people, the Japanese investment company renegotiated terms with creditors this month and signed an agreement. This is the third time SoftBank has expanded its margin loan backed by Arm shares, as founder Masayoshi Son needs billions of dollars to fund his growing AI investments, including a commitment of nearly $65 billion to ChatGPT developer OpenAI. For Masayoshi Son, his ever-growing ambitions include actively expanding data centers in the United States and France. SB Energy, SoftBank's US subsidiary, is developing 8.8 gigawatts of data center capacity in the United States, which is expected to require $174 billion in capital expenditures. SoftBank has also announced plans to build a 5-gigawatt data center in France.