SoftBank Group, the Japanese investment powerhouse, has agreed to purchase DigitalBridge Group for $4 billion in a deal that strengthens its position in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The acquisition announcement signals SoftBank’s ongoing commitment to building a dominant position in the infrastructure layer of the AI ecosystem.
The transaction substantially increases SoftBank’s involvement in digital infrastructure, which encompasses the essential assets and systems that enable AI technologies to operate. Billionaire founder Masayoshi Son has been reshaping SoftBank’s investment focus around artificial intelligence, viewing it as the defining technological transformation of this era. The unprecedented demand for computing power to support AI applications has created significant investment opportunities that align with DigitalBridge’s asset portfolio.
DigitalBridge specializes in investing across digital infrastructure sectors including datacenter facilities, telecommunications tower networks, fiber optic systems, small-cell infrastructure, and edge computing platforms. The company’s holdings include prominent businesses such as Vantage Data Centers, Zayo, Switch, an AtlasEdge. The firm’s journey from its 1991 founding as real estate investor Colony Capital to its current form occurred under Marc Ganzi’s leadership, involving the divestiture of traditional property assets and the 2021 rebrand to DigitalBridge.
Marc Ganzi will remain at the helm as CEO following the acquisition, with DigitalBridge continuing to operate as an independently managed platform. The magnitude of the business is considerable: DigitalBridge oversaw roughly $108 billion in assets at the end of September, making it one of the world’s largest investors focused exclusively on digital infrastructure. This provides SoftBank with immediate scale and specialized knowledge in a critical sector.
SoftBank’s AI infrastructure investments extend beyond DigitalBridge. The company is a major participant in the Stargate project, partnering with OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, a technology investor based in Abu Dhabi. This ambitious venture involves deploying billions of dollars to construct large-scale computing infrastructure purpose-built for advanced AI development. The roadmap includes five computing centers in Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio with a combined power capacity target of about 7 gigawatts.