SoftBank Group raised roughly $11 billion in multi-currency high-yield bonds across Tokyo and overseas markets this week to fund its accelerating artificial intelligence investments.

The debt package makes the Japanese conglomerate the largest corporate junk-bond borrower in the world.

Tranches in dollars and euros were priced at historic borrowing costs for the group. The dollar portion totaled $10 billion across three tenors. It included $1 billion in 3.5-year notes yielding 8.625 percent, $4.5 billion in 5.5-year paper yielding 9.25 percent, and $4.5 billion in 7.5-year securities yielding 9.75 percent. The firm also sold 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion) across four-year and six-year notes. The longer euro tranche landed at an 8 percent yield.

Borrowing costs topped anything founder Masayoshi Son has paid on dollar debt. Pricing landed on a day when benchmark US Treasury yields reached two-decade highs. That pushed coupon expectations up across global credit desks.

Strong institutional appetite still allowed the company to trim pricing from its opening guidance. Aggregate orders for the dollar bonds reached more than $30 billion by late afternoon in Asian trading. That demand gave underwriters room to compress yields before final allocation.

Credit markets nonetheless demanded a sharp premium for the company’s heavy balance sheet exposure. The five-year credit default swap spread on SoftBank debt widened this month to its highest level since early 2025.

Proceeds will finance investment commitments nearing $65 billion to ChatGPT maker OpenAI alongside related computing and infrastructure acquisitions. Son is assembling software, data centre, and chip assets. His goal is an integrated artificial intelligence ecosystem across global markets.

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