SB Energy Grants OpenAI $5.5 Billion in Warrants for Data Center Lease

SB Energy, a power and data center developer owned by SoftBank, has granted OpenAI stock warrants valued at an estimated $5.5 billion to secure the artificial intelligence company as a long-term tenant for its massive infrastructure projects. The arrangement, detailed in draft IPO documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, comes as SB Energy prepares to go public on the Nasdaq under the ticker SBE, targeting proceeds of $5 billion to $7 billion.

The warrants, granted in January 2026 and initially valued at $3.6 billion, have appreciated significantly due to the rising value of the underlying equity. They are structured to vest in stages, with approximately 1.73 million shares set to vest when the IPO closes and additional portions contingent on SB Energy reaching specific market value milestones. OpenAI holds about 4 million warrants in total. This financial incentive is tied to a 20-year lease commitment from OpenAI for a planned 10-gigawatt data center campus in southern Ohio, a project announced in mid-August 2026 with initial operations targeted for 2028.

The deal deepens a complex web of financial interdependence among major players in the AI infrastructure boom. OpenAI...