SoftBank Eyes DigitalBridge Acquisition to Secure AI Era Data Centers

SoftBank Group is reportedly negotiating to acquire DigitalBridge Group, according to people familiar with the discussions and reporting first carried by Bloomberg and relayed by The Japan Times. The talks are driven by a strategic push to gain more exposure to edge and hyperscale data center assets that support AI workloads. DigitalBridge shares rose sharply on the news, and sources say the negotiations could lead to a take private transaction by the end of the year, although there is no certainty a deal will be completed.

DigitalBridge is a major investor in U.S. data centers and fiber networks that underpin cloud services, content delivery and the AI training and inference pipelines used by companies across sectors. For SoftBank, securing these assets would be a bet on continued explosion in demand for compute capacity as more businesses deploy large AI models and enterprises move workloads closer to end users.

The prospective takeover matters beyond markets and corporate strategy because concentrated ownership of digital infrastructure intersects with public health, community welfare and social equity. Data centers are power intensive and often cluster near substations, creating pressure on local grids and increasing demand for water and fuels used in cooling and backup power. Communities near these facilities frequently raise concerns about noise, truck traffic and emissions from diesel generators that operate during outages, risks that tend to fall disproportionately on low income and marginalized neighborhoods.

Health care systems have become reliant on cloud based tools for electronic records, telehealth, diagnostic algorithms and population surveillance systems. Consolidation of the physical infrastructure that supports those services could affect pricing, bargaining leverage and resilience of services that patients and public health agencies depend on. Smaller hospitals and community clinics with tight budgets may face downstream impacts if costs or service priorities change, deepening existing health inequities.

Local economic effects are mixed. Data center projects can bring construction jobs and property tax revenue, but they also use large tracts of land and often require tax incentives to justify utility upgrades. A take private transaction could lead to operational restructuring or altered investment priorities that change local employment and municipal revenue trajectories. Communities hosting existing facilities may seek stronger community benefit agreements and clearer environmental commitments from any new owner.

Policy makers and regulators face a range of issues. Foreign acquisition of U.S. critical infrastructure has in the past drawn scrutiny from national security and investment screening authorities, and municipal planners are increasingly focused on siting, energy sourcing and resilience. Advocates say any corporate consolidation should be accompanied by enforceable commitments to renewable energy procurement, limits on backup generator emissions, investments in grid upgrades, and protections to preserve affordable access for community health providers.

For now the outcome is uncertain. Negotiations may yet falter or be reshaped by regulatory review and market conditions. If completed, however, the deal would underscore how the AI era is accelerating demand for physical infrastructure, and how those commercial decisions ripple into public health, community wellbeing and the distribution of technological benefits.