SoftBank’s $4B DigitalBridge deal signals power play for distributed AI and edge infrastructure

“The buildout of AI infrastructure represents one of the most significant investment opportunities of our generation,” says Marc Ganzi, Chief Executive Officer of DigitalBridge. “SoftBank shares our DNA as builders and long-term investors committed to scaling transformational digital infrastructure. Their vision, capital strength, and global network will allow us to accelerate our mission with greater flexibility, invest with a longer-term horizon on behalf of our investors, and better serve the world’s leading technology companies as they scale their AI ambitions.”

Through the acquisition, SoftBank hopes to better leverage data and scale up next-generation AI services and apps internationally.

DigitalBridge will operate as a standalone platform and keep its CEO, Marc Ganzi. The deal valued DigitalBridge at $16.00 a share, which was 15% above its recent stock price.

It is not yet clear when the deal, which faces regulatory approvals, will close in the second half of 2026.

The deal reflects an emerging focus on owning and scaling distributed digital infrastructure – including edge data centers – fiber and towers, as AI inference, data sovereignty and operational controls become more important than mere latency. 

In supporting DigitalBridge as a standalone, neutral platform with long-term capital, SoftBank is also clearly signaling that edge Infrastructure is key to scaling next gen AI and any future Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) aspirations throttling further consolidation and investments across the edge ecosystem.

Article Topics

acquisition  |  AI inference  |  AI/ML  |  data centers  |  DigitalBridge  |  edge infrastructure  |  SoftBank