日本投资巨头软银集团周二表示，由于美国数据中心的巨额建设成本和融资付款增加，该公司第二季度出现70亿美元净亏损。该集团在人工智能领域押下重注。
SoftBank Group, the Japanese investment giant with big bets on AI, said on Tuesday it had swung to a second-quarter net loss of $7 billion, hit hard by hefty buildout costs for data centres in the US and increases in financing payments.
不过，一家子公司为发电设备支付的预付款给本季度造成的损失，未来可能通过采购返还抵消。软银的借贷情况可能更令人担忧，7月至9月期间融资成本翻了一倍多。
The pain inflicted this quarter by a subsidiary's advance payments for power generation equipment could, however, be offset by rebates for future purchases. SoftBank's borrowing may be of greater concern, with financing costs more than doubling during July-September.
创始人孙正义继续大举投资人工智能，该集团在此期间筹集了565亿美元，创下单季历史新高。
The group raised $56.5 billion during the period — its highest ever quarterly total — as founder Masayoshi Son continues to pursue aggressive investment in artificial intelligence.
这笔支出涵盖数据中心、机器人技术，以及以646亿美元收购ChatGPT制造商OpenAI 13%的股份。软银表示，由于计划变更，因美国数据中心项目的设备预付款（包括俄亥俄州派克县的一个大规模开发项目）录得37亿美元亏损，但补充称有权获得未来采购高达21亿美元的回扣。
That spending has spanned data centres, robotics as well as the $64.6 billion purchase of a 13% stake in ChatGPT maker OpenAI. SoftBank said it logged a $3.7 billion loss due to advance payments for equipment in US data centre projects - including a large-scale development in Pike County, Ohio - after plans changed, but it added that it would be entitled to rebates of up to $2.1 billion on future purchases.
首席财务官后藤芳光在东京的新闻发布会上表示，围绕为数据中心争取能源供应和发电设备的激烈竞争，导致在长期规格敲定前就进行了采购。首席会计官君和田和子补充称，这些款项在取消时无法退还，还产生了费用。
Intense competition around securing energy supply and power generation equipment for data centres led to buying before long- term specifications were finalized, Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto told a press briefing in Tokyo. These could not be refunded when cancelled and also incurred fees, Chief Accounting Officer Kazuko Kimiwada added."
后藤芳光说：“在一两年前认为大概没问题的事情上，不得不改变策略的情况有很多。”“未来，虽然我们在一定意义上仍在摸索前行，但如何评估我们不再需要的资产可能会成为一个讨论课题。”
There are many cases where you have to change strategy for what you thought would probably have been OK a year or two ago," Goto said.“In the future, while we’re still in a sense doing things by trial and error, how to assess assets we no longer need may become a subject of discussion,” he added.
软银的盈利波动大且难以预测。1.1万亿日元的第二季度净亏损远超分析师预期，而去年同期因持有的OpenAI股份价值上升录得巨额投资收益，实现了2.5万亿日元的利润。
AI行业遭遇挫折这一结果可能会加剧外界关于软银能否经受住目前冲击AI行业的各种挫折的质疑。
SoftBank's earnings are volatile and difficult to predict. The 1.1 trillion yen second-quarter net loss far exceeded analysts' forecasts and compares with a 2.5 trillion yen profit in the same period a year earlier when it logged a huge investment gain on an increase in the value of its stake in OpenAI.AI SECTOR SETBACKSThe result is likely to intensify questions about how well SoftBank will weather setbacks currently buffeting the AI sector.
民主党在上周美国中期选举中大获全胜，加剧了对监管审查的预期，放大了投资者对AI行业回报日益增长的担忧。
The Democratic Party's sweeping success in US midterm elections last week heightened expectations of regulatory scrutiny, amplifying concerns that had been growing among investors about returns for the AI industry.
尽管软银股价在周二财报发布前飙升14%，但与其他AI股票一样，已因投资者情绪降温而遭重创，自6月初以来市值几乎腰斩。
Though SoftBank's shares surged 14% on Tuesday ahead of the results, they have, like other AI stocks, been battered by the cooling investor sentiment, almost halving in value since the start of June.
本周，联邦调查局（FBI）正在调查黄仁勋（Jensen Hua）的消息进一步震动了该行业。
英伟达首席执行官、人工智能热潮的标志性人物黄仁勋，因被曝与一名被指为北京间谍的中国女商人有染。
The sector was further rocked this week by the news that the FBI is looking at Jensen Huang, Nvidia's CEO and the face of the AI boom, after his affair with a Chinese businesswoman alleged to be a spy for Beijing.
软银过去曾是这家AI芯片制造商的主要投资者，但不再持有股份。英伟达已承诺向软银的数据中心开发子公司SB Energy投资30亿美元，后者计划上市。软银的大量借贷、有时收益率惊人，令部分投资者担忧，其融资成本在本季度跃升至4620亿日元。软银押注其持仓价值上涨将超过债务利息支出。首席财务官后藤芳光拒绝透露OpenAI最新一轮融资的细节，知情人士称该轮融资对OpenAI的估值为1.25万亿美元，但他表示极有可能在第三季度宣布相关消息。
SoftBank was a major investor in the AI chipmaker in the past but no longer holds a stake. Nvidia has committed to investing $3 billion in SoftBank's data centre development subsidiary SB Energy, which aims to go public. SoftBank's heavy borrowing at sometimes eye-popping yields has been a concern for some investors and its financing costs jumped to 462 billion yen in the quarter. It is banking on the rising value of its holdings to outpace the interest payments on its debt.CFO Goto declined to give details on OpenAI's latest funding round, which people familiar with the matter have said values the firm at $1.25 trillion, but said it was highly likely that something would be announced in the third quarter.
期内借贷包括118.7亿美元定期贷款、100亿美元美元计价公司债券和1万亿日元日元计价公司债券。软银还将其在芯片制造商Arm股份的保证金贷款增加50亿美元，至约250亿美元。虽然软银持有的TikTok母公司字节跳动股份在本季度产生了13亿美元投资收益，但投资组合主要上市公司Coupang和Grab的股价下跌。
Borrowing during the period included an $11.87 billion term loan, a $10 billion dollar-denominated corporate bond and a 1 trillion yen-denominated corporate bond. SoftBank also increased the margin loan on its stake in chipmaker Arm by $5 billion to roughly $25 billion. While SoftBank's stake in TikTok-owner ByteDance generated an investment gain of $1.3 billion during the quarter, share prices of major public portfolio companies such as Coupang and Grab declined.