Global Market: SB Energy to sell up to $500 million worth of shares to Japanese investors ahead of US IPO

Data centre developer SB Energy, backed by SoftBank Group, will sell up to $500 million worth of shares to Japanese investors as part of preparations for a public listing in the United States, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

The company will issue new shares to Japanese investors, with the proceeds earmarked for general operating expenses related to the development of data centres, power generation facilities and associated infrastructure projects, the filing showed.

The filing did not disclose the expected size of SB Energy’s US initial public offering. Reuters has previously reported that SoftBank could seek a valuation of about $50 billion for the data centre developer.

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Nvidia, OpenAI investments

Chipmaker Nvidia has committed to invest $1.5 billion in SB Energy through a private placement at the IPO price, according to the company’s investment prospectus released earlier this month.

OpenAI has also been issued warrants valued at roughly $5.5 billion, the prospectus showed, highlighting the growing ties between AI companies and the infrastructure providers powering the sector’s rapid expansion.
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AI boom fuels listing activity

Investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has driven a wave of public-market activity among companies linked to the technology sector this year.

SpaceX completed its listing in June, while AI company Anthropic is preparing for a potential public offering later this year. Japanese investors purchased $2.2 billion worth of SpaceX shares in its IPO, underscoring strong domestic appetite for high-growth US technology companies, Reuters reported.

SB Energy’s planned fundraising comes as demand for data centres continues to rise, driven by the rapid expansion of AI applications and the enormous computing and power requirements associated with them.

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