SoftBank Group’s acquisition of DigitalBridge Group, valued at $4 billion, directly targets the artificial intelligence computing boom, the companies jointly announced. The transaction represents billionaire Masayoshi Son’s strategic approach to capturing value from the exponential growth in AI infrastructure demand.
Through this deal, SoftBank gains substantially expanded exposure to digital infrastructure assets, which form the physical foundation for AI technology deployment. Son has been redirecting SoftBank’s investment portfolio toward artificial intelligence, characterizing it as the most significant technological transformation in a generation. The massive increase in demand for computing resources to support AI applications has created lucrative opportunities in infrastructure, which DigitalBridge’s specialized portfolio addresses.
DigitalBridge’s investment focus encompasses critical digital infrastructure sectors including datacenter properties, telecommunications towers, fiber optic networks, small-cell wireless systems, and edge computing facilities. The company’s holdings include well-known businesses such as Vantage Data Centers, Zayo, Switch, and AtlasEdge. The firm’s evolution from its 1991 founding as real estate investor Colony Capital to its current form occurred under CEO Marc Ganzi’s leadership, involving the comprehensive sale of traditional property assets and the 2021 rebrand.
Under the acquisition terms, Ganzi will continue as CEO with DigitalBridge operating as an independently managed platform within SoftBank. The magnitude of the transaction is substantial: DigitalBridge had approximately $108 billion in assets under management as of the end of September, establishing it as one of the world’s largest dedicated investors in digital infrastructure. This gives SoftBank immediate scale and specialized knowledge in a critical sector.
SoftBank’s involvement in AI infrastructure includes multiple major initiatives. The company is a core partner in the Stargate project, collaborating with OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, a technology investor headquartered in Abu Dhabi. This ambitious effort involves deploying billions of dollars 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 approximately 7 gigawatts of total power capacity.