SoftBank: 9.75% Coupons Clear Oct 1 OpenAI Wire - CRE AI Briefing, Sep 28, 2026

SoftBank cleared about $11.1 billion of senior notes with coupons up to 9.75% to fund its final $10 billion OpenAI tranche due October 1, as the 10-year Treasury sat near 5.17% and JPMorgan still maps roughly $4.1 trillion of AI-related debt through 2030. Meanwhile hyperscaler credit spreads sit near 115 basis points versus about 78 for broader investment-grade paper after roughly $194 billion of hyperscaler bond issuance in the first half of 2026, with Goldman flagging about $420 billion of issuance for 2027. Common thread for CRE: Texas still has Abbott's data-center environmental permit freeze pending ERCOT and water audits (compliance report due October 19), while counties cut tax bargains like Cedar Rapids rebating up to roughly $1 billion of property-tax increment to QTS even as PJM-region ratepayers were charged $4.4 billion for data-center transmission upgrades, so coupons, permit clocks, and who eats the grid and tax bill now sit inside the rent.

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Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/27/debt-hungry-data-center-companies-increased-risk-bond-yields-spike.html
https://readus247.com/softbank-bond-sale-openai/
https://nai500.com/blog/2026/09/ai-hyperscalers-turn-to-debt-as-bond-spreads-widen/
https://www.foley.com/insights/publications/2026/09/texas-governor-abbott-directs-tceq-to-freeze-all-data-center-permits-in-a-whole-of-government-action/
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/28/county-actually-negotiate-data-center-comes-town/
https://corridorbusiness.com/scope-of-qts-data-project-in-cedar-rapids-continuing-to-grow/
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-data-center-transmission-costs-ratepayers/761579/