Rising borrowing costs and investor doubts about the sustainability of
large-scale AI investment have increased the risk that SoftBank Group’s market
value could fall by about half from its June peak. Shares slipped as much as
6.7% on Thursday, leaving them roughly 50% below the June 2 record high. US tech
earnings failed to soothe investor concerns. Bonds of US cloud provider
CoreWeave fell to levels signaling credit stress, highlighting industry funding
risk and amplifying fears over global AI spending. Kazuyuki Muramatsu, head of
investments at Nagomi Capital, said SoftBank’s high leverage and rising
borrowing costs magnify its vulnerability; if market sentiment on AI growth
turns more pessimistic, the Vision Fund could face valuation losses and SoftBank
may pay higher premiums on future fundraising.
