SoftBank Group and its telecom arm plan to begin renting AI computing resources to US companies starting next fiscal year, which begins in April 2027 [1, 2, 3, 4].
The companies will form a new joint venture called SB Neo Inc. this month, with SoftBank Corp owning 51% and SoftBank Group holding 49% of the business. SB Neo will provide AI chips and cloud services mainly targeting large enterprises and hyperscalers [1, 2, 3, 4].
SB Neo aims to scale its data center computing capacity to about 10 gigawatts by around 2030 for large-scale AI model training and inference workloads, an ambitious target to support growing demand [1, 2, 3, 4]. Junichi Miyakawa, head of SoftBank’s telecom unit, called the launch “a second founding for our company” and said the business “has the potential to generate profit on a different order of magnitude” [1, 2].
SoftBank estimates the AI cloud services could triple or quadruple SoftBank Corp’s annual operating income, projecting profits of about ¥3 trillion to ¥4 trillion (roughly US$18.5 billion to US$25 billion) [1, 2].
The neocloud sector, in which SB Neo operates, is a new category of infrastructure providers renting AI-focused computing power. They compete with established cloud giants like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, as well as smaller players like CoreWeave and Nebius Group [1, 2, 3, 4]. SoftBank claims an advantage by powering its AI cloud mainly with gas-fired plants, potentially offering more stable energy supply for intensive AI workloads [2].
SoftBank’s neocloud operations may serve customers including OpenAI, in which SoftBank Group is committed to investing about US$65 billion by October 2026 [1, 2, 4].
The company’s expansion into large-scale AI compute rental marks a strategic shift from solely investing in AI firms to operating AI infrastructure [4].
SoftBank plans to establish SB Neo Inc. this month, start renting AI computing resources from April 2027, and reach 10 GW data center capacity by 2030 [1, 2, 3, 4]. The parent group will complete its OpenAI investment commitment by October 2026 [1, 2, 4].
