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Investing.com-- SoftBank Group (TYO:9984) is in talks with global banks for a $5 billion margin loan backed by its holdings in British chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The loan is aimed at refilling the Japanese tech conglomerate’s coffers as it embarks on an aggressive investment spree in artificial intelligence. CEO Masayoshi Son has touted AI as Softbank’s main area of focus in the coming years.
The company is close to signing a deal with a “handful of lenders,” the Bloomberg report said. The capital will be deployed towards funding additional investment in OpenAI, after Softbank pledged to invest up to $40 billion in the AI startup.
OpenAI and Softbank are also jointly developing a $500 billion venture– called Project Stargate– to build out more AI infrastructure in the United States.
The venture is part of Softbank’s plans to aggressively invest in AI and tangential technologies, amid a broader boom in the sector. Earlier this week, Softbank agreed to buy Swiss engineering group ABB’s robotics unit, which the Japanese conglomerate said was also part of its AI ambitions.
The company swung to a profit in its fiscal first quarter, as the value of its tech holdings was greatly boosted by optimism over AI.