Source: TechCrunch
This signals that mega-cap AI infrastructure players are now bankable collateral in themselves—the $40B loan hinges on SoftBank’s Vision Fund stakes in AI companies (particularly OpenAI), not traditional assets, revealing how quickly “AI ownership” has become the new currency of corporate leverage and a de facto bet on a 2026 IPO that will unlock trillions in paper wealth for early backers. The pattern here isn’t just about SoftBank’s financing needs; it’s institutional validation that AI company valuations have decoupled entirely from revenue/profitability and now operate as speculative assets that banks will literally lend against, accelerating the timeline for realized returns before this bubble requires actual business fundamentals.