SoftBank's SB Energy Plans IPO, Seeking $5-7 Billion; OpenAI and Nvidia Are Key Investors

SB Energy, a data center and energy infrastructure company under SoftBank, plans to launch an IPO in September, aiming to raise $5-7 billion. Although the company hasn't earned revenue from data center projects yet, it has a backlog of contracts worth over $400 billion, covering nearly 9GW of computing capacity. Currently, SB Energy has 800MW under construction, with three data centers planned to be leased by SoftBank and OpenAI, and a fourth in Texas, US, without a tenant yet.

OpenAI has a close relationship with SB Energy: SoftBank is a major investor in OpenAI, and OpenAI is both a key customer of SB Energy and has invested $500 million in it, receiving warrants valued at about $5.5 billion. SB Energy has also committed to purchasing at least $50 million of OpenAI's software and services by 2028. Additionally, Nvidia has invested $3 billion in SB Energy through two private transactions, one of which allows Nvidia to acquire shares at a 10% discount to the public offering price.