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. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company could seek to raise between $5 billion and $7 billion and could begin trading as soon as this month. 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 IPO filing comes shortly after Nvidia committed $105 billion in financing for an OpenAI data-centre project in Ohio that SB Energy will build. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, 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, helping to unlock investment-grade financing and ensure project success.
The significance of the disclosure extends far beyond the valuation itself, with subsequent reporting revealing that OpenAI was issued warrants worth approximately $5.5 billion in SB Energy, representing an appreciation of more than fifty percent in under six months. According to Reuters citing the Wall Street Journal, the warrants were issued in January 2026 at an estimated value of roughly $3.6 billion, and by the end of June 2026 their estimated value had risen to approximately $5.5 billion. The warrants were reportedly granted as an inducement to secure OpenAI as a data-centre tenant, they are expected to vest in stages after SB Energy's initial public offering as the company reaches specified valuation milestones, and OpenAI—which also invested $500 million of cash into SB Energy earlier in the year—is expected to hold a single-digit ownership stake following the listing.
The IPO filing highlights the scale of SB Energy's bet on AI infrastructure, as 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. According to the filing, SB Energy reported a net loss of approximately $3.2 billion in the first half of 2026, largely reflecting substantial investment in its data-centre strategy. The company 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.
SB Energy warned investors that the rapid construction of AI data centres could bring significant challenges. As reported in the filing, the company may face community opposition, local moratoria and hyper-local dissent, including growing public resistance to AI and AI-related infrastructure, that may adversely affect its data center and power generation businesses. 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. 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.
