{"id":7040,"date":"2026-05-08T15:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/?p=7040"},"modified":"2026-05-10T12:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:08:18","slug":"softbank-blinks-broadcom-stalls-openais-big-week-gets-bigger-for-the-wrong-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/softbank-blinks-broadcom-stalls-openais-big-week-gets-bigger-for-the-wrong-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank Blinks, Broadcom Stalls: OpenAI&#8217;s Big Week Gets Bigger for the Wrong Reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- NervNow Article: OpenAI Broadcom\/SoftBank -->\n<!-- Paste this into WordPress Custom HTML block. 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}\n  .nn-art .nn-h1 { font-size: 24px; }\n  .nn-art .nn-deck { font-size: 16px; }\n  .nn-art .nn-body { font-size: 16px; }\n}\n<\/style>\n\n<style>\n.nn-bar { position: sticky; top: 0; z-index: 99; background: #182a4f; padding: 0 40px; height: 56px; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: space-between; box-shadow: 0 2px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.18); }\n.nn-bar-logo { font-family: 'DM Sans', sans-serif; font-weight: 600; font-size: 18px; color: #fff; text-decoration: none; letter-spacing: -0.3px; }\n.nn-bar-nav { display: flex; gap: 24px; align-items: center; }\n.nn-bar-nav a { color: rgba(255,255,255,0.72); text-decoration: none; font-family: 'DM Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: 0.3px; transition: color 0.2s; }\n.nn-bar-nav a:hover { color: #fff; }\n.nn-bar-cta { background: transparent; color: #fff !important; padding: 5px 15px; border-radius: 4px; font-weight: 600 !important; border: 1.5px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.55); transition: border-color 0.2s, background 0.2s; }\n.nn-bar-cta:hover { border-color: #fff !important; background: rgba(255,255,255,0.08) !important; }\n@media (max-width: 600px) { .nn-bar { padding: 0 16px; } .nn-bar-nav { gap: 14px; } .nn-bar-nav a { font-size: 12px; } }\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"nn-bar\">\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/\" class=\"nn-bar-logo\">NervNow\u2122<\/a>\n  <nav class=\"nn-bar-nav\">\n   \n    <a href=\"https:\/\/newsletter.nervnow.com\/\" class=\"nn-bar-cta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe<\/a>\n  <\/nav>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"nn-art\">\n\n  <div class=\"nn-cat-tag\">Analysis \u00b7 AI Industry<\/div>\n\n  <p class=\"nn-h1\">OpenAI&#8217;s Chip Deal With Broadcom Stalls Over $18B Financing Gap, and SoftBank Just Cut Its Loan Too<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-deck\">Two financing deals linked to OpenAI ran into trouble this week \u2014 one over who guarantees a chip order, the other over how to value a private company. Neither is resolved.<\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-meta\">\n    <div class=\"nn-meta-author\">\n      <div class=\"nn-avatar\">NN<\/div>\n      <span class=\"nn-author-name\">NervNow Editorial<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <span class=\"nn-meta-sep\">\u00b7<\/span>\n    <span class=\"nn-meta-date\">May 8, 2026<\/span>\n    <span class=\"nn-meta-sep\">\u00b7<\/span>\n    <span class=\"nn-meta-read\">6 min read<\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-key-numbers\">\n    <div class=\"nn-kn-card\">\n      <div class=\"nn-kn-value\">$18B<\/div>\n      <div class=\"nn-kn-label\">Financing gap in Broadcom chip deal, first phase<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"nn-kn-card\">\n      <div class=\"nn-kn-value\">$6B<\/div>\n      <div class=\"nn-kn-label\">SoftBank&#8217;s revised loan target, down from $10B<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"nn-kn-card\">\n      <div class=\"nn-kn-value\">40%<\/div>\n      <div class=\"nn-kn-label\">Chip share Microsoft must commit to unlock the deal<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-body\">\n    <p>OpenAI is simultaneously running one of the most ambitious infrastructure buildouts in tech history and struggling to fund it. The company has committed to hundreds of billions in compute spending, closed a $122 billion funding round at an $852 billion valuation, and is racing to ship models fast enough to stay ahead of Anthropic and Google. This week, two separate financing deals linked to that buildout hit public turbulence \u2014 one involving a custom chip agreement with Broadcom, the other a loan SoftBank is trying to raise against its own OpenAI stake. The two situations are unrelated in structure but connected in what they reveal: at the scale OpenAI is operating, capital is not flowing as freely as the ambition requires.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-section-label\">What&#8217;s Happening<\/div>\n  <p class=\"nn-h2\">Two Deals, Two Problems<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-body\">\n    <p>OpenAI is facing two separate and distinct financing problems this week, both made public within 24 hours of each other.<\/p>\n    <p>The first involves its chip ambitions. OpenAI&#8217;s October 2025 agreement with Broadcom to procure 10 gigawatts of custom AI chips is running into a financing snag. According to The Information, which cited an internal memo and people involved in the talks, the negotiations have stalled over an $18 billion financing requirement for the deal&#8217;s first phase. Broadcom has said it will only finance that phase if Microsoft agrees to buy roughly 40% of the chips. Under the proposed arrangement, Microsoft would install the chips in its data centers and then rent them back to OpenAI.<\/p>\n    <p>The deal, codenamed Project Nexus, aims to produce a custom inference chip called Jalapeno to power ChatGPT. The broader agreement was designed to reduce OpenAI&#8217;s dependence on Nvidia hardware. The original Broadcom agreement, unveiled in October 2025, sketched a hardware buildout pegged at roughly $500 billion, spanning chips, networking, power, and data center capacity.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-callout\">\n    <p><strong>Key Detail<\/strong>Microsoft has yet to sign a firm purchase agreement. Broadcom is not particularly happy about the risk that Microsoft might not choose to buy the chips, and considers it OpenAI&#8217;s responsibility to ensure Microsoft commits.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-body\">\n    <p>Broadcom had long insisted that OpenAI put up one dollar for every dollar it provided in financing, a standard arrangement to limit vendor risk. It has since relaxed that requirement and agreed to invest more capital upfront than OpenAI, breaking from its long-held position.<\/p>\n    <p>The second problem is a different transaction entirely. SoftBank has downsized plans for a $10 billion margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake after facing hesitation from some creditors. In separate discussions with potential lenders in recent weeks, SoftBank and bankers helping it seek the loan have mentioned targeting an amount as low as $6 billion. The pullback reflects hesitation from potential lenders \u2014 including private credit firms, banks, and hedge funds \u2014 over the challenge of valuing OpenAI, which remains a private company. Discussions have been ongoing since mid-March.<\/p>\n    <p>These are not the same deal. The Broadcom situation concerns infrastructure financing for chip production. The SoftBank situation concerns a margin loan collateralized by SoftBank&#8217;s equity stake in OpenAI. What connects them is a common constraint: the capital markets are struggling to price and underwrite risk at the scale OpenAI&#8217;s AI buildout demands.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-section-label\">More Happenings<\/div>\n  <p class=\"nn-h2\">What Else Is Moving Around OpenAI This Week<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-body\">\n    <p>The financing strain is not occurring in a vacuum. OpenAI has been in the middle of several significant developments this week.<\/p>\n    <p>Greg Brockman, OpenAI&#8217;s co-founder and President, testified in the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial on May 5 and told the court that OpenAI expects to spend $50 billion on computing power in 2026 alone. Brockman noted that the company&#8217;s computing costs have surged from roughly $30 million in 2017 to tens of billions of dollars this year as OpenAI develops more advanced AI models and serves them to a wider audience.<\/p>\n    <p>On the enterprise side, OpenAI raised more than $4 billion from investors including TPG, Brookfield Asset Management, Advent, and Bain Capital for a firm focused on helping businesses deploy its AI software \u2014 part of a broader $10 billion joint venture targeting enterprise AI adoption.<\/p>\n    <p>On the product side, OpenAI released GPT-5.5 Instant as ChatGPT&#8217;s new default model on May 5, with the company reporting that it produced 52.5% fewer hallucinated claims than GPT-5.3 Instant on high-stakes prompts covering medicine, law, and finance. OpenAI also released three new voice models into its API, with one handling live translation across 70 languages.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <a href=\"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/is-openai-losing-the-ai-race-to-anthropic-and-gemini-as-revenue-targets-fall-short\/\" class=\"nn-internal-ref\">\n    <span class=\"nn-ref-tag\">NervNow Analysis<\/span>\n    <span class=\"nn-ref-title\">OpenAI missed multiple monthly revenue targets in early 2026, fell short of its one billion weekly active user goal for ChatGPT, and carries approximately $600 billion in compute commitments through 2030. Read the full analysis \u2192<\/span>\n  <\/a>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-section-label\">What the Future Holds<\/div>\n  <p class=\"nn-h2\">Three Paths for Broadcom, One Structural Problem for SoftBank<\/p>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-body\">\n    <p>The Broadcom deal has three realistic paths forward, as reported by The Information: restructure the financing tranche, find replacement lenders, or scale back the chip rollout. Each path will shape how much of OpenAI&#8217;s 2026 AI capital expenditure goals it can meet. A commitment from Microsoft to purchase the chips would unlock the deal, but Microsoft recently ended its revenue-sharing arrangement with OpenAI, signaling a more cautious financial posture toward the partnership.<\/p>\n    <p>For the SoftBank loan, the challenge is structural: OpenAI remains a private company, and lenders have found it difficult to agree on how to value its equity as collateral. Until OpenAI completes its anticipated transition to a for-profit structure and moves toward an IPO \u2014 a timeline that remains contested internally, with Sam Altman targeting Q4 2026 and CFO Sarah Friar preferring 2027 \u2014 this valuation uncertainty is unlikely to disappear.<\/p>\n    <p>What the week&#8217;s events collectively show is that the capital formation challenge for OpenAI is no longer theoretical. It is showing up in specific deals, specific dollar amounts, and specific counterparties who are pausing before they commit.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-more-section\">\n    <div class=\"nn-more-title\">More on OpenAI<\/div>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/james-dyett-exits-openai-joins-thrive-capital-in-latest-executive-shakeup\/\" class=\"nn-more-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\n      <span class=\"nn-more-arrow\">\u2192<\/span>\n      <span class=\"nn-more-link-title\">James Dyett Exits OpenAI, Joins Thrive Capital in Latest Executive Shakeup<\/span>\n    <\/a>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/circles-and-openai-launch-ai-concierge-to-reshape-telecom-industry\/\" class=\"nn-more-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\n      <span class=\"nn-more-arrow\">\u2192<\/span>\n      <span class=\"nn-more-link-title\">Circles and OpenAI Launch AI Concierge to Reshape Telecom Industry<\/span>\n    <\/a>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/openai-resolves-microsoft-dispute-over-50b-amazon-deal\/\" class=\"nn-more-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\n      <span class=\"nn-more-arrow\">\u2192<\/span>\n      <span class=\"nn-more-link-title\">OpenAI Resolves Microsoft Dispute Over $50B Amazon Deal<\/span>\n    <\/a>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/nervnow.com\/ro\/openai-plans-to-reserve-ipo-shares-specifically-for-retail-investors\/\" class=\"nn-more-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\n      <span class=\"nn-more-arrow\">\u2192<\/span>\n      <span class=\"nn-more-link-title\">OpenAI Plans to Reserve IPO Shares Specifically for Retail Investors<\/span>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <div class=\"nn-sources\">\n    <div class=\"nn-sources-title\">Sources<\/div>\n    <ul>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">01<\/span>The Information, May 7, 2026 \u2014 Broadcom chip deal financing snag, internal memo<\/li>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">02<\/span>Bloomberg, May 8, 2026 \u2014 SoftBank margin loan cut to $6 billion<\/li>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">03<\/span>Sherwood News \/ Robinhood, May 7, 2026 \u2014 Broadcom chip deal overview<\/li>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">04<\/span>Bloomberg, May 5, 2026 \u2014 Brockman testimony, $50B compute spend<\/li>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">05<\/span>Bloomberg, May 4, 2026 \u2014 OpenAI PE joint venture, $4B+ raised<\/li>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">06<\/span>OpenAI, May 5, 2026 \u2014 GPT-5.5 Instant release and hallucination data<\/li>\n      <li><span class=\"nn-src-num\">07<\/span>NervNow, April 29, 2026 \u2014 OpenAI revenue targets and compute commitments<\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/NervNow Article -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two financing deals linked to OpenAI ran into trouble this week one over who guarantees a chip order, the other over how to value a private company. 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