SoftBank shares drop over 10% as OpenAI rival's accelerated IPO sparks concerns

(1) As OpenAI's competitors advance their initial public offering (IPO) plans, SoftBank Group's share price plunged sharply on Thursday after a recent surge, with the latest drop reaching 10.4% to 7,449 yen (approximately 46.53 US dollars), having fallen as much as 11% during intraday trading.(2) Driven by growing AI demand and expectations for a possible OpenAI IPO, SoftBank’s share price has more than doubled over the past two months; earlier this week, SoftBank announced its 52 billion US dollar data center project in France, which further boosted its stock price.(3) However, OpenAI’s competitors are also accelerating their listings: one exchange plans to sell about 75 billion US dollars’ worth of shares in an IPO on June 12; another exchange has secretly filed for an IPO and may go public as early as this fall. These moves could make it easier for competitors to access financing channels needed to build large-scale AI infrastructure.