SoftBank Pays $4B to Add DigitalBridge Infrastructure Portfolio to AI Holdings

SoftBank Group is paying $4 billion to add DigitalBridge Group’s infrastructure portfolio to its expanding collection of AI-related holdings. The acquisition, confirmed by both parties, reflects billionaire Masayoshi Son’s conviction that controlling infrastructure assets will be crucial to capturing value from the artificial intelligence boom.
The transaction substantially increases SoftBank’s involvement in digital infrastructure, which provides the foundational capabilities necessary for AI applications to function. Son has been reshaping SoftBank’s investment focus around artificial intelligence, characterizing it as the most important technological shift in a generation. The unprecedented growth in demand for computing power to support AI systems has created valuable opportunities in infrastructure, which DigitalBridge’s specialized portfolio addresses directly.
DigitalBridge has assembled an investment portfolio spanning critical digital infrastructure categories including datacenter facilities, telecommunications tower networks, fiber optic systems, small-cell infrastructure, and edge computing platforms. Holdings include recognized companies like Vantage Data Centers, Zayo, Switch, and AtlasEdge. The firm’s journey from its origins as Colony Capital, a real estate investment firm established in 1991, to its current incarnation occurred under CEO Marc Ganzi, who orchestrated the exit from traditional real estate and the 2021 rebrand.
Under the acquisition agreement, Ganzi will continue serving as CEO with DigitalBridge maintaining operational independence as a separately managed platform. The financial scope is noteworthy: DigitalBridge managed around $108 billion in assets at the end of September, positioning it among the world’s largest institutional investors focused exclusively on digital infrastructure. This provides SoftBank with immediate access to substantial assets and industry expertise.
SoftBank’s AI infrastructure investments extend beyond this transaction. The company is a key participant in the Stargate project alongside OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, an investment firm based in Abu Dhabi. This collaborative venture involves multi-billion-dollar investments in large-scale computing infrastructure specifically designed for advanced AI development. The roadmap includes five new computing facilities across Texas, New Mexico, and Ohio with a total power capacity target of about 7 gigawatts.