$50 billion IPO plans are meeting tougher investor questions because SB Energy's growth case hinges heavily on OpenAI, whose own IPO timing is uncertain.
$357 billion of SB Energy's roughly $439 billion contracted backlog is not due until 2034 or later, while the company posted just $138.7 million in first-half revenue and a $551.6 million operating loss.
OpenAI is the main tenant for SB Energy's biggest projects, and Nvidia has provided a $105 billion guarantee for the first phase of an 8-gigawatt Ohio campus; both are expected to hold stakes in the listed company.
More than $170 billion in capital spending is needed to build the pipeline, and analysts say SB Energy may require another $7 billion of equity beyond IPO proceeds plus substantial debt.
That leaves SoftBank pitching years of construction and customer-concentration risk before most capacity is online, even as the huge backlog underpins the long-term bull case.