Musk Says SoftBank Is Falling Behind on Turbine Orders as Debt Risk Jumps
Key Facts
Elon Musk said in a post on X on November 6, 2026, that SoftBank was falling behind on turbine orders, without specifying a supplier, order or amount. On the same day, the cost of insuring the Japanese group’s debt rose to 466 basis points during the session, its highest level since October 2022, according to a Reuters report. The spread stood at 457.50 basis points at 0653 GMT. The post comes amid growing scrutiny of the group’s financial position, but the indicator that rose was the cost of protection against credit risk. The expansion of AI infrastructure also raises financing questions as the expected returns on some investments are pushed further out.
Reuters linked increased scrutiny of SoftBank’s finances to its expanded borrowing to fund its stake in OpenAI. The report said expected investment returns had been delayed after OpenAI’s public listing was postponed to 2027. This comes as the group continues major plans to supply power to data centers. On March 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a partnership involving SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy to develop 10 gigawatts of power generation at the Portsmouth site in Pike County, Ohio. The plan includes 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas to supply a planned 10-gigawatt data center. The announcement described the project as a development plan; it did not confirm any disruption to turbine orders.
The plan includes new power transmission infrastructure valued at $4.2 billion, which the Department of Energy said SB Energy would fund in partnership with AEP Ohio. The department projected more than 10,000 construction jobs over 4 years, in addition to more than 2,000 operational jobs. These figures show the scale of the infrastructure the project requires, from generation to transmission and operations, while the stated capacity remains a target under the project plan. In the gas equipment sector, GE Vernova said its backlog and reservations for supply slots rose to 122 gigawatts in the third quarter of 2026, compared with 116 gigawatts in the second quarter. The company expected the total to reach at least 130 gigawatts by year-end.
GE Vernova’s figures follow an earlier upward trend: the company said orders and supply reservations rose from 100 to 116 gigawatts in the second quarter, with an earlier forecast of at least 125 gigawatts by the end of 2026. In July, its chief executive said the company was targeting annual gas turbine production of 20 gigawatts in the third quarter of 2026, then 24 gigawatts in 2028 and 30 gigawatts in 2030. These plans point to the company’s efforts to increase production alongside its growing reservations. However, order figures and targeted production do not in themselves establish the status of the SoftBank orders Musk mentioned. His post did not name a supplier or provide details that would link it to the Portsmouth project.
In the cloud computing market, Reuters reported that Microsoft had reduced the computing capacity it rents from Oracle in recent months, after not renewing the contract, because that capacity no longer suited its changing needs. The report noted that Oracle equipment used under the agreement relied on older generations of Nvidia chips. An Oracle spokesperson said demand for AI infrastructure at OCI remained strong, including demand for graphics processing units from older generations. Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Oracle announced the multiyear agreement with Microsoft in 2023, saying at the time that Microsoft would use OCI infrastructure to run the AI-powered version of Bing, without disclosing the financial terms.
Reuters also reported that IREN delayed its target of bringing more than $4 billion in annualized revenue capacity online to January from year-end, with the delay potentially extending to late February. The report attributed this to Microsoft’s request for changes to the network design. These developments combine companies’ reassessment of their computing capacity needs with the expansion of power plans dedicated to data centers. For SoftBank, the cost of insuring its debt remains at its highest level since October 2022, a documented indicator of rising credit concerns in the November 6 session. Musk’s post, meanwhile, records a brief claim about turbine orders without details on the supplier or the commitment in question.