SoftBank Builds Batteries for AI Data Centers While Tightening OpenAI Exposure

SoftBank is moving beyond financial stakes in artificial intelligence to tackle one of the sector’s most pressing bottlenecks: energy. The Japanese conglomerate has teamed up with Cosmos Lab and DeltaX to set up a battery factory in Sakai, aiming for serial production of next-generation storage units for data centers. From the fiscal year starting April 2028, the facility is expected to churn out 1 gigawatt-hour of capacity annually.

The push into hardware comes as data centers guzzle ever more power to support AI workloads and cloud services. Batteries can smooth out demand spikes and stabilise supply — a critical function for operators racing to scale. For SoftBank, the factory marks a tangible step beyond its legacy image as a pure investment holding company, embedding itself deeper into the physical backbone of the AI boom.

That boom has already delivered eye-popping financial results. SoftBank posted a net profit of ¥5 trillion (roughly $32 billion) for the year ended March, nearly a fivefold jump from the prior period. The primary driver was its bet on OpenAI, which generated cumulative gains of $45 billion against a total outlay of $34.6 billion. The Vision Funds business swung back into the black with a profit of ¥6.445 trillion, helped along by the initial public offering of Japanese payments app PayPay.

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Yet even as the AI windfall rolls in, SoftBank is signalling greater caution. Reports emerged that the group has slashed the planned volume of a margin credit facility for OpenAI by several billion dollars. With more than $60 billion already pumped into the ChatGPT developer and a roughly 13% stake on its books, the move hints at a more defensive posture. Investors have reacted to the mixed signals with extreme volatility — a double-digit plunge was followed days later by the strongest single-session rally since 2020.

The caution extends to SoftBank’s most important listed asset. Arm Holdings, the chip designer, delivered a solid quarter with revenue up 20% to $1.49 billion and earnings per share beating expectations. But licence revenue of $671 million fell short of consensus, and CEO Rene Haas warned of smartphone-market softness eating into that lucrative line. The warning tempered enthusiasm for an otherwise booming AI-related business.

In contrast, SoftBank’s traditional telecom arm, SoftBank Corp., closed the fiscal year with record revenue and net profit, surpassing its own medium-term targets. On the corporate balance sheet, the loan-to-value ratio stood at a comfortable 20.6% as management laid out a $38.5 billion investment plan for the new fiscal year starting April 2026.

The battery initiative adds a real-world infrastructure layer to SoftBank’s AI narrative, moving beyond paper gains from stakes in platforms and models. Short-term earnings won’t be swayed by a factory that won’t start production for another four years. But it gives the market a concrete milestone to judge whether SoftBank can translate AI euphoria into sustainable operations — and whether its newfound caution on credit is a prudent hedge or a sign of limits.

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