SoftBank Shares Slide as Oracle’s AI Spending Plans Fuel Market Jitters

SoftBank Group shares dropped sharply on Thursday, leading declines across Japanese markets, after Oracle’s mixed quarterly earnings reignited concerns about soaring artificial intelligence investments. SoftBank (TYO:9984) slid 7.7% to 17,210 yen, marking a one-week low and making it the worst performer on the Nikkei 225, which fell more than 1%.

The selloff followed a steep 10% plunge in Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) after the cloud giant reported fiscal second-quarter results that beat profit expectations but fell short on revenue. Investor sentiment weakened further as Oracle issued a softer-than-expected outlook for the current quarter and sharply raised its fiscal 2026 capital expenditure forecast to $50 billion from $35 billion. The increase underscored the company’s aggressive push into AI infrastructure, but also amplified doubts about how effectively it can monetize such heavy investments.

Analysts flagged rising concerns about Oracle’s debt load, fueled by multiple bond issuances this year, as well as its significant exposure to OpenAI. BMO analysts noted that OpenAI’s substantial spending commitments could pose long-term risks, especially with uncertainty around how the startup plans to meet its obligations.

These worries extended to SoftBank, a major OpenAI backer. CFO Yoshimitsu Goto recently emphasized that the conglomerate remains focused on OpenAI and is not seeking to fund competing AI ventures. SoftBank has pledged up to $40 billion in investments for the ChatGPT maker and recently revealed that it sold all its NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares to help finance the commitment.

Oracle, meanwhile, has promised large-scale data-center capacity for OpenAI and has been raising capital to support the build-out. But the latest earnings did little to calm concerns over the sustainability of massive AI spending, which has yet to generate meaningful returns for many tech leaders. OpenAI itself is projected to burn significant cash and faces intensifying competition from major players like Google, even as it targets more than $1 trillion in AI infrastructure spending over the next five years.