SoftBank's Son Reportedly Seeks $100 Billion From Gulf Investors for AI Fund
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking up to $100 billion from Gulf investors for an AI fund, people familiar say. SoftBank declined to comment.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to raise up to $100 billion from Gulf investors for a new AI-focused vehicle, according to a report citing multiple people familiar with the matter. SoftBank declined to comment, so none of it is confirmed.
What the report says
Son has held discussions in recent weeks with senior figures, including in the United Arab Emirates. The plan, as the sources describe it, is a fund that buys companies and then uses AI and other advanced technology to improve their operations.
Roze, SoftBank's robotics and physical AI business, is expected to play a key role in that process. Son hopes to take Roze public at a lofty valuation.
The same people said there is no guarantee the talks will succeed.
What is not known
The reporting does not name which Gulf funds are at the table. It does not say how much SoftBank would put in itself, what kinds of companies the fund would buy, or when it might close. It also does not say how the vehicle would fit alongside SoftBank's existing Vision Funds and Stargate commitments.
The backdrop
Startup Fortune lays out the financial context. This is that outlet's account.
- SoftBank upsized a margin loan backed by its Arm shares three times in 2026, most recently by $5 billion in September, to $25 billion outstanding.
- It carries a $40 billion bridging loan that runs to March 2027.
- S&P Global put its loan-to-value ratio at 33% in March 2026. SoftBank prefers to cite 17%.
- Its shares have fallen close to 50% since the start of June 2026, and the cost of insuring its debt has climbed, even after a record annual net profit for the fiscal year ended in March 2026.
- An effort to borrow against its OpenAI stake stalled, because lenders were wary of a private company that does not disclose financials the way a listed one does.
SoftBank also raised $11.1 billion in September 2026 in the largest high-yield corporate bond sale globally, to fund its OpenAI bet.
Startup Fortune notes that Mubadala and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund were early backers of the original $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017. That is history. Nothing in the reporting says either is in these talks.
A $100 billion ambition, a $40 billion bridge loan due in March 2027, and no announced commitment from Gulf investors.
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Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
One hundred billion dollars, and the Gulf is reportedly being asked! Darling, that is the kind of number that gets a fund its own wing. The talks may not succeed, but I adore the ambition.
Note the gap between the 33% loan-to-value S&P Global estimates and the 17% SoftBank prefers to cite. The fund's targets, size of SoftBank's own contribution and timeline are all unspecified, so the footnote is longer than the finding.
