SoftBank Invests $4 Billion in DigitalBridge to Expand AI Infrastructure Reach

SoftBank Group is investing $4 billion to acquire DigitalBridge Group, expanding its reach across the artificial intelligence infrastructure landscape. The transaction, announced by both companies, represents founder Masayoshi Son’s determination to build a comprehensive portfolio of infrastructure assets supporting AI technologies.
The acquisition provides SoftBank with substantially broadened exposure to digital infrastructure, which supplies the critical capabilities necessary for AI systems to operate at scale. Son has been systematically positioning SoftBank’s investments around artificial intelligence, characterizing it as the most important technological shift in a generation. The massive increase in demand for computing resources to power AI applications has created significant opportunities in infrastructure, which DigitalBridge’s portfolio addresses.
DigitalBridge focuses its investments on essential digital infrastructure sectors including datacenters, cell tower networks, fiber systems, small-cell infrastructure, and edge computing facilities. The company’s holdings include prominent businesses such as Vantage Data Centers, Zayo, Switch, and AtlasEdge. The firm’s transformation from its 1991 origins as Colony Capital, a real estate investment company, to its current form occurred under CEO Marc Ganzi’s direction, involving the complete exit from traditional property holdings and the 2021 rebrand.
Under the acquisition agreement, Ganzi will continue as CEO with DigitalBridge operating as an independently managed platform within SoftBank. The magnitude of the transaction is impressive: DigitalBridge managed approximately $108 billion in assets as of September 30, establishing it as one of the premier dedicated investors in digital infrastructure globally. This gives SoftBank immediate scale and specialized knowledge in a critical sector.
SoftBank’s AI infrastructure strategy encompasses multiple major initiatives beyond DigitalBridge. The company is a key participant in the Stargate project, collaborating with OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, a technology investor based in Abu Dhabi. This ambitious effort involves billions of dollars in investments to construct large-scale computing infrastructure purpose-built for advanced AI development. The project includes plans for five computing facilities in Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio with a combined power capacity of about 7 gigawatts.