SoftBank Group has agreed to acquire DigitalBridge Group in a deal valued at approximately four billion dollars as part of its broader push into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The transaction, announced at the end of December 2025, underscores SoftBank’s ambition to deepen its footprint in the AI era by gaining control over physical assets that support large scale compute and connectivity needs.
The acquisition covers DigitalBridge’s extensive portfolio of digital infrastructure, including data centers, fiber networks, and telecom towers—assets that are increasingly critical as AI workloads demand ever-larger computing power and connectivity capacity. DigitalBridge manages around one hundred eight billion dollars in assets globally and is viewed by SoftBank as a platform to accelerate next generation AI infrastructure deployment.
SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son has been aggressively repositioning the company toward AI. This includes multi-billion dollar commitments to AI research partnerships and compute projects such as the high-profile “Project Stargate,” which aims to scale hyperscale data center and compute infrastructure. By adding DigitalBridge’s owned and managed infrastructure to its portfolio, SoftBank aims to secure a stronger foothold in the physical layer of the AI stack—combining compute, connectivity, and power.
Under the terms of the deal, SoftBank will pay sixteen dollars per share in cash, reflecting a premium over DigitalBridge’s market price prior to the announcement. The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to standard regulatory approvals. DigitalBridge is set to continue operating under its current leadership as a standalone unit within SoftBank’s growing digital infrastructure ecosystem.
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Analysts note that this move reflects a broader shift in the AI investment landscape where control of physical infrastructure is becoming just as strategic as software and model development. SoftBank’s investment signals confidence in sustained global demand for high-performance data center capacity and the infrastructure that powers advanced AI systems.
