SB Energy Files for IPO to Tap AI Power Thirst

SB Energy Corp., a power infrastructure firm backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and OpenAI, filed for a US initial public offering, becoming the latest company to seek to capitalize on the growing power demand for data centers.

The Redwood City, California-based firm had a net loss of $3.2 billion on revenue of $139 million for the first-half of 2026, compared with a net loss of $216 million on revenue of $83 million a year prior, according to its filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

SB Energy has a portfolio of solar and battery storage assets and is developing a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas plant. The Ohio gas plant will power an artificial intelligence data center as the firm focuses more on digital infrastructure. 

OpenAI and SoftBank have both agreed to invest $500 million into SB Energy to build and operate the company’s 1.2 gigawatt Texas data center for OpenAI. Ares Management Corp. has also invested in SB Energy.

The IPO should ease concerns about SoftBank’s asset valuation and its capacity to fund its AI investment program, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Kirk Boodry wrote in a May note. “By shifting funding for heavy data-center investment to its subsidiaries, SoftBank reduces parent-level liquidity pressure,” he wrote.

The offering comes as technology companies have been increasing their spending on power and infrastructure to advance their artificial intelligence data centers. Analysts at UBS Group AG expect $511 billion to be spent by 2030 to close the gap in power demand, largely driven by data centers.

SB Energy’s offering is being led by JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Mizuho. The company expects its shares to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market and Nasdaq Texas under the symbol “SBE”.