SoftBank shares rise 10% after telecom unit lifts outlook

SoftBank Group’s shares rose over 10% after its telecom unit, SoftBank Corp, raised its full-year profit outlook, driven by record revenue and operating income for the first nine months of fiscal 2025.

The company increased its revenue forecast to ¥6.95 trillion (US$44.5 billion) and its operating income target to ¥1.02 trillion (US$6.5 billion), citing steady progress toward its fiscal goals.

Revenue from its consumer segment grew modestly, with a 3% rise, despite a subscriber decline following tighter customer acquisition policies.

A rally in Arm Holdings, in which SoftBank holds a large stake, also contributed to the positive sentiment.

Arm posted record quarterly revenue of US$1.2 billion for Q4 2025, with growth driven by demand for AI-related applications.

CEO Rene Haas noted that data center royalty revenue more than doubled year-on-year, and the company aims to supply half of the CPUs used by major cloud providers by year-end.

🔗 Source: CNBC

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

SoftBank Group is both the owner and a customer of Arm

Arm reported US$1.2 billion in revenue. About US$200 million came from a strategic partnership with SoftBank Group, Arm’s parent company, recorded in Arm’s license revenue 1.
That slice did not come from broad customer demand. It tied to SoftBank Group projects such as the Stargate Project, which SoftBank Group says it is leading and announced with OpenAI (an AI research and product company) plus Oracle (a major enterprise software and cloud company) to build next-generation AI data centers in the U.S. for OpenAI 2.
SoftBank Group has also leaned on its Arm stake to fund deals. It discussed a US$5 billion margin loan using Arm Holdings shares as collateral 3.
In a separate disclosure, SoftBank Group said it secured US$15 billion in loans to fund its OpenAI investment and the US$6.5 billion Ampere acquisition 2.

SoftBank Group’s approach narrows the gap between investor and operator

SoftBank Group is moving beyond passive ownership. It is trying to build a connected AI stack across its holdings.
The plan links Arm, the announced US$6.5 billion Ampere deal for a company that designs server CPUs, and an intention to invest up to US$30 billion in OpenAI if a syndicate covers the full amount 2.
This setup can place SoftBank Group on both sides of a transaction. Internal AI projects could feed revenue back into portfolio companies 1.