Key points
- Reports link SoftBank to Malaysia's $50 billion AI plan
- SoftBank's Sarawak agreement sets no investment amount
- SoftBank's own funding contribution remains undisclosed
SoftBank Group (9984.T; U.S. ADR: SFTBY) is discussing an AI and data center investment plan totaling $50 billion in Malaysia, with partners and financing expected to provide part of the money, according to Nikkei Asia. SoftBank's shares closed down 0.3% in Tokyo on Oct. 26, at 4,263 yen.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim disclosed the plan in a speech in Melaka on Oct. 24, without naming the investor. "Last Tuesday, one of the world's largest investors held a video conference with me. The investor said he had chosen Kuching, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia for an investment worth US$50 billion, one of the largest investments in the region," Anwar said, according to Malaysia's national news agency, Bernama. He listed the sectors as "AI, new technology and data centre."
Bloomberg identified the investor on Oct. 25 as Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's chairman and CEO. SoftBank's press-release page lists no announcement of the $50 billion plan as of Oct. 26.
SoftBank's Sarawak agreement leaves funding open
Son signed a framework agreement in Kuching on Oct. 8 with Grab (GRAB) and PETROS, Sarawak's state-owned energy company. The companies agreed to explore AI and digital infrastructure projects in Sarawak and map out how to build them in phases.
The agreement sets no investment amount and doesn't commit the companies to proceed. The announcement also doesn't say whether the project is part of the $50 billion plan Anwar described. Financing, government approvals, land, power, and customer contracts remain among the risks it identifies.
Malaysia has already drawn major tech investment pledges
For scale, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle announced Malaysian investment pledges totaling at least $10.7 billion in 2024.
Microsoft (MSFT) pledged $2.2 billion for cloud and AI infrastructure that May. Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google announced $2 billion later that month, including its first Malaysian data center and cloud region. Oracle (ORCL) followed in October with plans to invest more than $6.5 billion.
Malaysia has been attracting data center investment for several years. The Malaysian Investment Development Authority recorded 385.7 billion ringgit ($94 billion) in the sector from 2021 through the first half of 2026.
The government wants Malaysia to become an "AI nation" by 2030. Nvidia (NVDA) is also helping build AI infrastructure there as part of the sovereign AI expansion CEO Jensen Huang promoted at GTC Berlin.
SoftBank is expected to fund part of the plan
SoftBank's own share of the $50 billion hasn't been disclosed. Anwar gave no timeline for the investment, and he didn't say how it would be split between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
In September, SoftBank priced about $11.1 billion of bonds with coupons as high as 9.75%. On Oct. 1, it used the proceeds to pay the final $10 billion installment of its $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI.
SoftBank's Oct. 26 close of 4,263 yen was 50.6% below its June 2 record close of 8,632 yen, by our calculations from Yahoo Finance data.
