SB Energy has filed for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, setting the stage for a potential public-market debut as the company expands into the rapidly growing business of powering artificial intelligence data centres.
The company, backed by SoftBank, OpenAI and Nvidia, plans to list on the Nasdaq and Nasdaq Texas under the ticker SBE. It has not yet disclosed the size or pricing of the offering. The Wall Street Journal reported that SB Energy could seek to raise between $5 billion and $7 billion and could begin trading as soon as this month.
The IPO comes shortly after Nvidia committed $105 billion in financing for an OpenAI data-centre project in Ohio that SB Energy will build, putting the company at the centre of one of the largest infrastructure bets linked to the AI boom.
Nvidia backs massive OpenAI data-centre buildout
Nvidia announced the financing in August as technology companies race to secure the computing capacity needed for increasingly demanding AI systems.
For SB Energy, Nvidia’s involvement could help unlock financing for its planned data-centre expansion. Chief executive Rich Hossfeld said the chipmaker’s participation could strengthen the company’s ability to fund and execute the project.
“The reason Nvidia is on our part of the equation here is that, you know, helps us to unlock things like investment-grade financing. It helps to ensure the project is a success,” Hossfeld told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” after the financing announcement.
SB Energy has no operational data centres yet
The IPO filing also highlights the scale of the bet SB Energy is making on AI infrastructure. None of its data centres were operational as of the filing date, and the company has not yet generated revenue from that part of its business.
SB Energy reported a net loss of approximately $3.2 billion in the first half of 2026, largely reflecting what it described as substantial investment in its data-centre strategy. It generated about $139 million in revenue during the period, primarily from its legacy energy operations.
The company relies heavily on outside financing partners to develop its data-centre campuses, making access to capital particularly important as it attempts to expand.
OpenAI is a major part of the IPO story
The filing also makes clear that OpenAI is closely tied to SB Energy’s growth plans.
The company described itself as “substantially dependent” on OpenAI as both a tenant and equity investor. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman was also an early personal investor.
“This concentration means that our near-term revenues, project-level financing arrangements, and development plans are significantly linked to OpenAI’s continued performance under our lease and related agreements,” the filing states.
The prominence of OpenAI in the filing reflects the scale of infrastructure spending required to support the AI industry and the importance of a small number of major technology customers to companies building that infrastructure.
Data-centre expansion brings new risks
SB Energy warned investors that the rapid construction of AI data centres could also bring regulatory and community challenges.
“We may face community opposition, local moratoria and hyper-local dissent, including growing public resistance to AI and AI-related infrastructure, that may adversely affect our data center and power generation businesses and operations,” the filing read.
Other risks include technological advances that could make facilities obsolete, weaker-than-expected AI adoption, regulatory changes and a slowdown in capital spending by major technology companies.
SoftBank remains SB Energy’s controlling shareholder. With its IPO now filed, investors will be watching how public markets value a company whose future is increasingly tied to the enormous infrastructure spending behind the AI boom, even as its data-centre business has yet to begin generating revenue.
