The potential acquisition targets an enormous portfolio of AI information facilities
In sum – what we all know:
- A serious AI play for SoftBank – SoftBank is in lively talks to accumulate DigitalBridge Group and take the New York-listed agency personal, doubtlessly inside weeks.
- Strategic focus for the way forward for tech – The acquisition would grant SoftBank management over $108 billion in property beneath administration, centered on the digital infrastructure powering AI.
- DigitalBridge gives scale and leverage – DigitalBridge might present SoftBank a ready-made platform to satisfy exploding AI compute demand with out constructing one from scratch.
In keeping with a brand new report from Bloomberg, SoftBank is in lively discussions to accumulate DigitalBridge, a agency that focuses on digital infrastructure property. The deal, which might come collectively inside the coming weeks, would take DigitalBridge personal and grant SoftBank management over roughly $108 billion in property beneath administration — a portfolio closely weighted towards information facilities and different infrastructure essential to AI workloads.
The potential acquisition highlights SoftBank’s broader ambitions in AI. Positive, DigitalBridge is shopping for up different property, like community infrastructure, however the large play for SoftBank is clearly in AI. Below founder Masayoshi Son, SoftBank has made sweeping bets on AI-adjacent firms and infrastructure, viewing the know-how because the defining funding alternative of the approaching decade. A profitable acquisition of DigitalBridge would mark a major escalation of that technique, giving SoftBank direct publicity to the bodily layer of AI — the information facilities the place coaching and inference truly happen.
The deal
In keeping with the Bloomberg report, discussions between SoftBank and DigitalBridge are ongoing — nonetheless the report notes the deal might materialize within the coming weeks. DigitalBridge shares surged as a lot as 35 % following information of the talks, buying and selling at $12.63 on the time of reporting. The inventory had beforehand declined 13 % over the course of 2025, reflecting broader volatility within the digital infrastructure funding area.
DigitalBridge operates as a worldwide funding supervisor centered on digital infrastructure, with information facilities forming the core of its portfolio. The agency manages capital on behalf of institutional traders and has positioned itself as a key financier behind the buildout of compute capability worldwide. Taking DigitalBridge personal would enable SoftBank to consolidate these property beneath its personal umbrella, streamlining decision-making and doubtlessly accelerating deployment of recent capability.
Why DigitalBridge?
DigitalBridge has emerged as one of the lively gamers within the information middle funding panorama, an asset class that has turn out to be more and more strategic as AI workloads proceed to scale. The corporate reported over 2.6 GW of knowledge middle leasing volumes in Q3 2025 alone, a determine fueled by multibillion-dollar improvement contracts tied on to the explosive progress in AI computing.
That scale issues. Knowledge facilities have advanced from commodity infrastructure right into a bottleneck for frontier AI improvement. The biggest mannequin builders, like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and others, are racing to safe capability, and the corporations that management that capability now wield important leverage. DigitalBridge’s portfolio spans a number of geographies and contains relationships with hyperscalers and enterprise clients alike, making it a sexy goal for any investor in search of publicity to AI-driven infrastructure demand.
For SoftBank, buying DigitalBridge would imply having access to a ready-made platform for scaling information middle investments with out constructing one from scratch. Quite than competing for particular person property, SoftBank would inherit a diversified portfolio and a longtime crew with deep experience in digital infrastructure transactions.
SoftBank’s rationale
Masayoshi Son has made no secret of his conviction that synthetic intelligence will reshape the worldwide economic system. SoftBank’s funding historical past displays that thesis, from its early stake in Arm Holdings to its newer involvement in AI-focused startups and infrastructure performs. However proudly owning fairness in AI firms is totally different from proudly owning the bodily infrastructure these firms rely upon. The DigitalBridge deal would shift SoftBank nearer to the latter.
The timing aligns with file ranges of funding in AI infrastructure throughout the business. Hyperscalers are locking in chip provide years prematurely, and information middle capability is being absorbed virtually as shortly as it may be constructed. In that surroundings, management over compute infrastructure has turn out to be a type of strategic leverage.
By taking DigitalBridge personal, SoftBank would acquire the pliability to deploy capital extra aggressively, doubtlessly increasing current services or funding new developments in areas the place AI demand is outpacing provide. The transfer additionally matches with a broader sample of consolidation within the information middle sector, as traders search scale and integration amid rising development prices and intensifying competitors for energy and land.
Whether or not the deal closes stays to be seen. But when it does, it might be a transparent sign that SoftBank intends to be greater than a passive investor within the AI growth.
