SB Energy has postponed its initial public offering from September to at least mid-to-late October after failing to attract sufficient investor demand at its targeted $50B+ valuation, according to the company's communications with underwriters.
The delay comes as SB Energy has yet to place a single data center into commercial operation despite marketing itself on the strength of a $439B revenue backlog projected over roughly 20 years beginning in 2028. That backlog is heavily concentrated in a single contract: a lease of Ohio's PORTS-Pike campus to OpenAI, backed by Nvidia hardware guarantees.
Investors on a call last week heard directly from OpenAI's chief financial officer Sarah Friar and infrastructure chief Sachin Katti. The company's S-1 filing shows zero operational facilities as of the most recent update.
SB Energy's struggle to clear its valuation target comes as appetite for data-center public offerings has visibly contracted. Holtec International has paused its data-center IPO, and Aggreko has slowed its own offering process.
The $50B+ valuation represented SoftBank's bid to capitalize on surging demand for power and infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence workloads. Nvidia has committed to supplying the PORTS-Pike facility with its computing hardware, and OpenAI is obligated under its lease to consume a substantial portion of its output.
SB Energy now faces the challenge of reworking its public offering narrative. With zero operational data centers and a customer base consisting of a single anchor tenant, the company will need to demonstrate either material progress on construction, additional signed contracts, or acceptance of a lower valuation range when it returns to the market in October. The gap between the $50B target and what investors will accept could determine whether the IPO proceeds or is deferred further.
