PANews reported on March 2 that according to Sina Finance, people familiar with the matter said that several executives of Japan's SoftBank Group (27.67, 0.00, 0.00%) informed several banking institutions last week that the company's CEO Masayoshi Son plans to borrow $16 billion to invest in artificial intelligence (AI). This development follows a large loan of $18.5 billion, marking the company's aggressive advancement in the field of AI. Subsequently, SoftBank may borrow another $8 billion in early 2026.

According to previously learned information, SoftBank plans to invest $40 billion in the "Stargate" infrastructure project announced by US President Trump and OpenAI as a whole, and has started negotiations on raising up to $18.5 billion. In January, Reuters reported that SoftBank was negotiating to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, which developed the large model ChatGPT.