SoftBank (SFTBY.US) is seeking a $16.5 billion loan for its American AI project.

According to sources familiar with the matter, SoftBank (SFTBY.US) is reportedly seeking a loan of up to $16.5 billion to fund its artificial intelligence investments in the United States. This would be the largest single dollar loan in SoftBank's history. Sources say that the bridge loan being discussed would have a term of approximately 12 months. They also added that negotiations with banks are still in the early stages and details may change in the coming weeks. The sources mentioned that this bridge loan could help support a new $40 billion financing round led by SoftBank for OpenAI. According to research firm PitchBook, this would be OpenAI's largest financing round ever, valuing the company at $300 billion, nearly double its valuation of $157 billion from the financing round in October last year. SoftBank is making ambitious AI investments in the United States. In January of this year, SoftBank announced a project called "Stargate" in partnership with OpenAI, Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US), and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX Corporation to build a $500 billion data center and infrastructure in the US. Last week, Japanese media reported that SoftBank is planning an industrial park project to build AI factories across the US, potentially committing over $1 trillion with the US government.