SB Energy hands OpenAI $5.5B in warrants ahead of IPO targeting $7B raise
What's the deal? SB EnergyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the SoftBankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →-owned data center developer, issued OpenAI stock warrants estimated at $5.5 billion as an incentive to bring the AI company on as a tenant, according to draft IPO documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The warrants were valued at $3.6 billion when issued in January, rising to $5.5 billion by the end of June.
What's the company? Founded in 2019, SB Energy develops large-scale power and data center infrastructure to support AI workloads. It has nearly nine gigawatts of computing capacity under contract, most tied to a flagship campus in southern Ohio that has yet to be built.
Why now? SB Energy expects to file its IPO publicly as soon as this week, with bankers targeting a listing next month that could raise between $5 billion and $7 billion. Reuters earlier reported the company could seek a valuation above $50 billion.
What's the endgame? The documents lay out how deeply SB Energy is tied to SoftBank and OpenAI, both planned tenants and investors. OpenAI put $500 million into the company earlier this year and executed 17 leases this month for about eight gigawatts of capacity at the Ohio campus. The warrants unlock in stages as SB Energy's market capitalisation hits set thresholds.
By the numbers: SB Energy's net loss widened to $3.2 billion in the first half of 2026 from around $250 million a year earlier, driven largely by changes in its warrant liabilities. Revenue from its renewable energy unit reached about $140 million, up 66% year on year. The company has 800 megawatts of capacity under construction and no data centers currently operating.
What could go wrong? The filing flags SB Energy's heavy reliance on OpenAI as a key risk, warning that any weakening of the AI firm's finances could hurt it. Funding for the Ohio campus also hinges on Nvidia, which invested $1.5 billion this month, committed $3 billion through two private transactions, and agreed to a guarantee of up to $105 billion to backstop the project.
The signal: SoftBank's deepening financial entanglement with OpenAI is drawing investor focus. Its total commitment to OpenAI is expected to reach roughly $65 billion by October — a position that lifted SoftBank stock to record highs and briefly pushed it past ToyotaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → as Japan's most valuable listed company.
Read more: The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, qz.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
