SoftBank Group Reports Major Quarterly Loss on US Data Center and Power Costs

SoftBank Group swung to a major quarterly loss of 768 billion yen, or approximately $7 billion, for the April-to-September period due to heavy financial hits from US data center investments, power-equipment write-offs, and financing costs. As Japan's top domestic story, this development underscores the massive financial weight and volatility of artificial intelligence infrastructure spending for the tech conglomerate overseen by key figures like corporate leadership. This major loss follows a period where SoftBank Group stock had slid nearly 10 percent ahead of the earnings release, while its Net Asset Value dropped 38 percent since June to 44.7 trillion yen.

Why did SoftBank Group swing to a quarterly loss?

SoftBank Group swung to a loss because mounting AI investment costs, a $3.7 billion power-equipment write-off, and Intel hedges severely impacted earnings. Reports from outlets such as FourWeekMBA and MLQ.ai noted that the conglomerate also logged a 204 billion yen warrant loss while holding OpenAI at 1.82x cost. In total, various financial tracking sources placed the net loss figure between 768 billion yen and 1.1 trillion yen when factoring in the power-equipment and infrastructure hits in the United States.

"SoftBank Group reports a 768 billion yen quarterly loss due to data center investments, power-equipment write-offs, and financing costs."

How did SoftBank Corp. perform during the same period?

In stark contrast to the wider group's struggles, domestic telecommunications subsidiary SoftBank Corp. reported record-high revenue and profits for the first half of fiscal year 2026. Driven by robust cloud growth and strong operational results, SoftBank Corp. executives upwardly revised their full-year forecast during their earnings call. This divergence highlights a split performance between the parent group's high-risk international AI ventures and the steady domestic financial contributions of its telecom arm.

What are SoftBank's latest international AI investments?

SoftBank continues to expand its international footprint, recently joining forces with Grab and PETROS on a $1.85 billion artificial intelligence plan in Malaysia. Part of this initiative includes Grab signing a $750 million AI infrastructure development deal in the region. These strategic deployments demonstrate that despite heavy data center write-offs and soaring financing costs, SoftBank remains committed to funding global artificial intelligence expansion.