SoftBank writes off $3.7 billion after cancelling AI data center turbine orders

The write-off exposes how fragile gas-turbine supply planning has become for companies building AI infrastructure.

SoftBank has written off about $3.7 billion after cancelling most of its reservations for gas turbines, which it had booked to power AI data centers; the Wall Street Journal reported the reservations totalled more than 13 gigawatts. The company said the cancellations were voluntary and denied that it had defaulted on any orders, rebutting a claim made by Elon Musk. Turbines must be ordered years ahead, and manufacturers typically charge tens of millions of dollars per gigawatt, so the move leaves SoftBank having paid for capacity it no longer needs. Its planned 9.2-gigawatt Ohio plant, costing $33 billion, was tied to a data center to be leased to OpenAI, and the setback highlights how volatile the power supply chain behind AI infrastructure has become.