SoftBank Group’s credit risk climbs to a four-year high as AI spending raises funding concerns

SoftBank Group’s credit risk has reached its highest point in roughly four years. Investors are growing uneasy about how the Japanese conglomerate is paying for its artificial intelligence ambitions, and about a potential acquisition on top of them. What the debt markets are signaling SoftBank’s five-year CDS spreads have climbed to a range of around 380 to 400-plus basis points. Between June and October 2026, those spreads rose about 24%, at one point topping 400 basis points. Insuring SoftBank’s debt against default now costs roughly 4% of the protected amount every year. SoftBank has been issuing large amounts of debt to fund its AI push, and the biggest single line item is OpenAI. SoftBank’s total commitment to OpenAI has reached about $64.6 billion. As of early October 2026, that investment corresponded to roughly a 13% stake in the ChatGPT maker. A record junk bond sale with a hefty price tag To help finance the final stages of that OpenAI investment, SoftBank sold a record $11.1 billion in high-yield bonds on September 24, 2026. The deal came with steep coupons. SoftBank’s dollar notes across various maturities carried yields of 8.625%, 9.25% and 9.75%, with the top coupon d...