SB Energy offered OpenAI a major perk to land it as a data-center tenant ahead of the SoftBank-backed company’s initial public offering.
OpenAI was issued warrants worth an estimated $5.5 billion in SB Energy—a company it previously invested in, according to draft IPO documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
SB Energy is expected to make its IPO filing public as soon as this week. The company, which is majority-owned by Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, is working with bankers on
SB Energy offered OpenAI a major perk to land it as a data-center tenant ahead of the SoftBank-backed company’s initial public offering.
OpenAI was issued warrants worth an estimated $5.5 billion in SB Energy—a company it previously invested in, according to draft IPO documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
SB Energy is expected to make its IPO filing public as soon as this week. The company, which is majority-owned by Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, is working with bankers on an IPO as soon as next month, aiming to raise between $5 billion and $7 billion, the Journal has reported. The terms aren’t yet final and could change.
The draft IPO documents provide the first detailed look at the financial ties between SB Energy and the companies supporting its ambitious expansion into AI infrastructure, namely parent company SoftBank and OpenAI. They also illustrate the interconnectedness of major AI players that has come to define the boom.
SB Energy’s base of data center customers currently consists of firms that are also its investors.
SoftBank and OpenAI are the planned tenants in three SB Energy data centers, the documents show. A fourth, 900-megawatt site in Scurry County, Texas, doesn’t have a customer yet. (Parent company SoftBank also serves as one of OpenAI’s major investors.)
SB Energy is hoping to convince investors that it can build data centers—and secure the enormous amount of power they need—faster than traditional developers. For now, however, it doesn’t have any data centers in operation and has 800 megawatts of computing capacity under construction, according to the documents.
The company has contracts with customers for nearly nine gigawatts of computing capacity, which it says is among the largest power pipelines of any U.S. data-center developer, according to the documents. The vast majority of that capacity is expected to come from its southern Ohio campus, which hasn’t been built yet. That campus would rely on a planned nearby natural gas-fired power plant.
SB Energy doesn’t generate revenue from its data center segment but is planning to report that its contracted backlog in that unit is more than $400 billion.
The firm’s revenue primarily comes from its renewable power unit, which focuses on developing solar and battery systems. It generated around $140 million in revenue during the first half of 2026, up 66% from the same period a year earlier, the documents show.
Its net loss increased to $3.2 billion from around $250 million in the first half of 2025, largely driven by changes in the estimated value of its warrant liabilities, the documents show. OpenAI’s warrants were valued at $3.6 billion when they were first awarded in January, but increased to $5.5 billion at the end of June, according to the documents.
OpenAI invested $500 million in SB Energy earlier this year. It is expected to own a single-digit percentage of SB Energy shares following the IPO, the documents said. After the IPO, tranches of warrants in SB Energy would vest based on the company reaching certain market-value milestones.
SB Energy, in turn, has committed to purchase at least $50 million of OpenAI software and services through 2028, including ChatGPT Enterprise, according to the documents.
SB Energy warned in the filing that it is substantially dependent on OpenAI and could be materially harmed if the AI company’s financial condition deteriorates.
Earlier this month, OpenAI signed 17 separate leases covering about eight gigawatts of computing capacity at SB Energy’s largest project in southern Ohio, which is supported by 10 gigawatts of power.
SB Energy also warned investors in its draft filing that its ability to finance the Ohio data center project depends significantly on Nvidia’s agreement to provide a residual value guarantee.
Nvidia also has an equity stake in SB Energy. The draft filing shows the chip maker committed $3 billion to SB Energy through two private transactions tied to SB Energy’s IPO, including one that allows the chip maker to acquire shares at a 10% discount to the public offering price.
Write to Anissa Gardizy at anissa.gardizy@wsj.com
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