SB Energy to sell up to $500 million in shares to Japan investors as part of US IPO

SB Energy, a data center developer backed by SoftBank Group, plans to sell up to $500 million in shares to Japanese investors as part of its upcoming public listing in the U.S., according to a filing. The company will distribute new shares to Japanese investors, with the resulting funds allocated for operating expenses related to data center development, power generation, and related infrastructure projects.

The exact size of the U.S. Initial Public Offering (IPO) has not been disclosed. SoftBank may be aiming for a valuation of $50 billion for SB Energy, as per a Reuters report. Nvidia, a leading chipmaker, has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in a private placement at the IPO price, while OpenAI has received warrants valued at approximately $5.5 billion, as reported in SB Energy's investment prospectus, released earlier in September.

The surge in investor interest for artificial intelligence has triggered a series of public listings for related firms this year, including SpaceX, which listed in June, and Anthropic, which is set to list later this year. Japanese investors secured $2.2 billion worth of SpaceX shares during its IPO.