SoftBank Stock Sinks 12% in Tech Share Selloff

SoftBank stock sink of 12.74% wipes ¥5.6 trillion in market value as an OpenAI IPO delay report and AI chip-cost inflation drive the sharpest tech share selloff in weeks.

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What Happened

The catalyst arrived late Thursday U.S. time. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that OpenAI's advisers had presented CEO Sam Altman with two paths: delay the public offering until 2027 and target a $1 trillion valuation, or accept a lower valuation in exchange for a faster listing. The report hit Tokyo markets at the open on Friday, and SoftBank — whose shares had reached record highs in recent months partly on expectations of a near-term OpenAI windfall — absorbed the largest single-session loss in the group since 2023.

Intraday losses briefly exceeded 14% before the stock recovered slightly to close down 12.74%. Weekly gains tied to semiconductor-sector optimism were fully wiped out.

Compounding the pressure, Apple on June 25 raised prices on MacBooks and iPads by up to $300, citing what it described as an "unprecedented" surge in memory and storage component costs driven by AI data-center demand — noting publicly that it had "never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly." Within hours, Microsoft followed with Xbox console price increases of $100 to $150 per model, effective August 1. The back-to-back announcements confirmed that the AI chip shortage had moved from a discrete supply-chain issue to a consumer-facing cost event.

Market Reaction

The SoftBank stock sink rippled across Asian markets in what shaped into one of the region's steepest technology selloffs of 2026. South Korea's SK Hynix and Samsung each fell more than 10% intraday as investors reassessed memory-chip demand scenarios. The Nikkei 225 shed more than 2% at its session low.

In U.S. premarket trading, Arm Holdings — majority-owned by SoftBank — fell 3.66%. Nvidia extended its recent weakness, sitting out a partial megacap bounce. Intel dropped just over 3%, Marvell declined 3.29%, and SanDisk fell 4.74%. The Nasdaq Composite closed down 1.25%, the S&P 500 fell 0.75%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.44%. Microsoft stock shed 3.5% on the day.

The combined effect of the OpenAI IPO delay report and the Apple-Microsoft pricing announcements crystallized a concern that had been building across the sector: AI infrastructure costs are now large enough to transmit through the hardware stack and into consumer prices, potentially crimping both device demand and the pace of AI adoption.

Strategic Context

A delay to the OpenAI IPO does not alter the underlying economic interest, but it defers the date at which the position can be monetized at a public-market clearing price. That deferral matters for SoftBank's balance sheet dynamics. Earlier in 2026, concerns over the debt load associated with the $40 billion OpenAI financing commitment contributed to a sharp drawdown — shares fell nearly 45% from their October 2025 highs by late March. Friday's session reopened questions about the sustainability of SoftBank's leverage profile if the IPO catalyst shifts further into the future.

AI and Technology Angle

Son has framed his next strategic chapter around Physical AI and humanoid robotics, publicly asserting the thesis in a recent CNBC interview. SoftBank is in the process of forming a U.S.-based AI and robotics venture named Roze, which is intended to consolidate selected AI and robotics assets. The company is targeting an IPO for Roze in the second half of 2026 at a valuation of approximately $100 billion — a listing that would give SoftBank a new public-market vehicle for its AI ambitions independent of the OpenAI timeline.

The tech share selloff also reflects a structural shift in how markets are pricing AI growth. Through most of 2025 and early 2026, AI infrastructure spending was treated as a demand signal; rising chip costs were read as evidence of robust AI adoption. The Apple and Microsoft announcements shifted that framing: if memory and storage inflation is now severe enough to push device prices up by $100 to $300 per unit, the second-order demand effects — slower hardware upgrade cycles, constrained enterprise AI rollouts — become material risks rather than abstractions.

Outlook

SoftBank enters the next phase of 2026 with its OpenAI position intact but its near-term monetization timeline in question. If the IPO moves to 2027, the company's capacity to unlock balance-sheet flexibility through a stake sale or partial secondary is constrained for at least another 12 months. The Roze IPO, if it proceeds on schedule in late 2026, offers a partial offset and a test of independent investor appetite for SoftBank's AI-and-robotics thesis.

The broader tech share selloff may prove transient if chip inflation fears moderate, but Friday's session established a harder ceiling on multiple expansion for AI-exposed equities. SoftBank, with its concentrated OpenAI exposure and leveraged structure, remains among the most sensitive instruments to shifts in AI market sentiment globally.