SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Aims to Dominate 'Artificial Super Intelligence' with Massive OpenAI Investment

SoftBank aims to become leading 'artificial super intelligence' platform provider

TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab CEO Masayoshi Son said on Friday that he wants the investment group to become the biggest platform provider for "artificial super intelligence" within the next 10 years. "We want to become the organiser of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era," Son told shareholders at the group's annual shareholder meeting. Son likened his aim to the position of dominant technology platform providers such as Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab, Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google, who benefit from a "winner takes all" dynamic. At previous public appearances Son has described artificial super intelligence as exceeding human capabilities by a factor of 10,000. The technology investment group has returned to making the aggressive investments that made Son's name and fortune, such as an early bet on Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab, but at times spectacularly backfired, like failed shared office provider WeWork. SoftBank's mammoth investments related to artificial intelligence in 2025 include acquiring U.S. semiconductor design company Ampere for $6.5 billion and the underwriting of up to $40 billion of new investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Son said Softbank's total agreed investment in OpenAI now stood at $32 billion and that he expected OpenAI to eventually list publicly. "I'm all in on OpenAI," Son said. Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Technology

SoftBank CEO says he's 'all in' on OpenAI, reveals he's long wanted Microsoft's spot as main backer

Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, speaks during the company's annual general meeting in Tokyo on June 20, 2024. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son used a shareholders' meeting on Friday to discuss the company's conviction in OpenAI and the coming era of "artificial superintelligence." Over the past year, the Japanese multinational conglomerate has been increasing its investments in OpenAI and participating in joint ventures such as the $500 billion Stargate project. According to Son, SoftBank is now "all in" on the artificial intelligence company, with total planned investments in the company reaching about 4.8 trillion Japanese yen ($33.2 billion), despite it being unlisted and unprofitable. "I think that OpenAI will be listed eventually and, in my belief, will become the most valuable company in the world," Son said. He added, however, that it "takes bravery to invest" in such a company. As it turns out, Son has long held that conviction. During the shareholders' meeting, he revealed that before 2019, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had asked him if SoftBank would invest $10 billion into the company. "I said, yes, I would ... I was serious because I had financial resources thanks to Vision Fund's performance. But obviously, Sam talked to other potential investors, and eventually, they picked Microsoft," he said. Microsoft ultimately inked the deal, which made it the exclusive provider of computing power for OpenAI's research, products, and programming interfaces for developers. However, Microsoft lost its status as OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider at the start of this year. And that relationship now appears to be on rocky footing. According to recent reports, Microsoft hasn't approved an OpenAI restructuring plan that would turn it into a more conventional for-profit company. Touching upon the reports, Son suggested that Altman should have chosen SoftBank, not Microsoft, as its initial partner, though he noted that SoftBank was smaller at the time and that Microsoft had its global supply chains, technical talents and brand value to offer. SoftBank has previously stated that it could reduce its portion of its $30 billion investment in OpenAI's latest funding round in March to $20 billion if it doesn't restructure into a for-profit entity by Dec. 31. However, on Friday, Son said that his conviction on OpenAI has only grown stronger and that SoftBank will continue to deepen its relationship with the company, regardless of what happens with Microsoft.

SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Sets Sights On Artificial Super Intelligence Domination With Bets On OpenAI And Ampere: 'I'm All In' - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

On Friday, SoftBank Group SFTBF SFTBY CEO Masayoshi Son said that he plans to position the company as the leading platform provider in the artificial super intelligence (ASI) sector within the next decade, aiming to rival major tech firms like Microsoft Corp. MSFT, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google. What Happened: Speaking at SoftBank's annual shareholder meeting, Son spoke about his ambition to establish SoftBank as a dominant player in the ASI space, reported Reuters. "We want to become the organizer of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era," Son said. He likened the opportunity in ASI to the positions held by Microsoft, Amazon and Google, where a "winner takes all" dynamic prevails. See Also: Amazon, Google Not Far Behind, But Dan Ives Says Microsoft 'Clearly Leading' In These Segments -- $600 Price Target Is 'Probably' Conservative In line with this vision, the Japanese investment holding firm has made aggressive investments, including acquiring U.S. semiconductor designer Ampere for $6.5 billion and underwriting up to $40 billion in new investments for ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, the report added. SoftBank's total investment in OpenAI has reached $32 billion since 2024. "I'm all in on OpenAI," Son said while acknowledging that he regretted not investing in the AI company earlier. Why It's Important: SoftBank has returned to investing, having already scored big with early bets like Alibaba Group Holdings BABA but also failures like WeWork, the report added. The company sold its 5% stake in Nvidia Corp. NVDA in 2019, missing out on the AI boom that later made the Jensen Huang-led company a global leader in AI chips. SoftBank announced its fourth-quarter earnings last month. The company posted net sales of 1.94 trillion yen ($12.69 billion) for the quarter, an increase from 1.75 trillion yen in the same period last year. Sales from the SoftBank segment rose 10.2%, reaching 1.73 trillion yen ($11.33 billion). Read Next: Cathie Wood Dumps Palantir As Stock Touches Peak Prices, Bails On Soaring Flying-Taxi Maker Archer Aviation Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: glen photo / Shutterstock.com AMZNAmazon.com Inc$219.250.98%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum50.52Growth97.05Quality66.72Value50.01Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewBABAAlibaba Group Holding Ltd$114.000.06%GOOGAlphabet Inc$175.200.44%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$174.320.45%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$497.25-0.04%NVDANVIDIA Corp$155.820.52%SFTBFSoftBank Group Corp$68.61-%SFTBYSoftBank Group Corp$34.37-0.03%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

SoftBank aims to become leading 'artificial super intelligence' platform provider

TOKYO (Reuters) -SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son on Friday said he wants the Japanese technology investment group to become the biggest platform provider for "artificial super intelligence" within the next 10 years. "We want to become the organiser of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era," Son told shareholders at the group's annual shareholder meeting. Son likened his aim to the position of dominant technology platform providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google, which benefit from a "winner takes all" dynamic. At previous public appearances Son has described artificial super intelligence as AI technology that is able to exceed human capabilities by a factor of 10,000. SoftBank has returned to making the aggressive investments that made Son's name, such as an early bet on Alibaba, but that at times spectacularly backfired, like its massive investment in failed shared office provider WeWork. Its AI-related deals this year include acquiring U.S. semiconductor designer Ampere for $6.5 billion and the underwriting of up to $40 billion of new investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Son said SoftBank's total agreed investment in OpenAI now stood at $32 billion since first investing in Autumn 2024 and that he regretted not investing earlier. He also said he expected OpenAI to eventually list publicly. "I'm all in on OpenAI," Son said. SoftBank had owned around 5% of Nvidia until it sold the stake in 2019, before ChatGPT generated a surge in AI interest at the end of 2022. Nvidia now dominates AI chipmaking and has become one of the world's most valuable companies. Son's latest spending spree follows years of retrenchment after the high-growth tech startups into which SoftBank had invested billions of dollars through its Vision Fund investment vehicles crashed in value from 2022. Fortunes changed again when SoftBank raised some $5 billion listing chip designer Arm in September 2023. The rise in the British firm's share price since has boosted the group's assets, against which SoftBank can take out debt to fund new investment. Son said SoftBank was committed to prudent investment and that, throughout the peaks and troughs, SoftBank has maintained the financial resources and user base such that it can take risks at times. Earlier in June it raised $4.8 billion from the sale of some shares in T-Mobile. (Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)