SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Envisions India as Global Chip Capital Amid AI Boom

Vision For India

SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has a plan to make India the chip capital of the world as artificial intelligence (AI) resets the technology landscape, said founders and senior executives he interacted with.SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has a plan to make India the chip capital of the world as artificial intelligence (AI) resets the technology landscape, said founders and senior executives he interacted with. On a whirlwind visit to India, Son also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. "Son believes India has the potential to emerge as the new Silicon Valley on the back of its chip design capabilities, moving away from the software services and coding focussed workforce," said one of the persons cited. The Japanese billionaire's plans include involving British semiconductor design company Arm Holdings to help India churn out 1 million chip designers by tying up with universities and institutions, another person said. SoftBank holds a 90% stake in Arm Holdings, which debuted on Nasdaq as the biggest IPO of 2023, raising $4.87 billion. Its latest market capitalisation is $140 billion. Son also told Indian entrepreneurs during a two-hour meeting earlier in the day about how they should think of AI in a non-linear way and map a vision for the next decade. He is learnt to have said that as much as $9-12 trillion in capital expenditure is expected to flow into AI infrastructure. On his India trip, he also met Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai on Tuesday to discuss possible AI opportunities. The central government has launched the Indian Semiconductor Mission (ISM) to further the country's chip manufacturing, packaging and design capabilities. ET reported in September that the mission is likely to see a budgetary allocation of $10 billion in its second phase. In the first phase, Tata Electronics' $11 billion proposal to set up a semiconductor fabrication unit in Gujarat was approved. Under the ISM programme, the government provides nearly 50% of capital subsidy to companies setting up semiconductor facilities. This is topped up another 15-25% by the state government where the plant is coming up. SoftBank has been among the biggest backers of the Indian startup ecosystem over the last decade having invested $11 billion through its two Vision Funds. It reported a nearly $8 billion profit for the July-September quarter, its highest in over two years, driven by successful IPOs by Indian portfolio firms FirstCry and Ola Electric. SoftBank did not sell any shares during the public offering by Swiggy, of which it owns 8%. Portfolio companies like OfBusiness are expected to go public next year. Kalyan Krishnamurthy of Flipkart, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, Ritesh Agarwal of Oyo, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart and Albinder Dhindsa of Blinkit were present at Son's lunch meeting in New Delhi. He also met Khadim Batti of Whatfix, Ashish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra of OfBusiness, Vikram Chopra of Cars24, and Saurabh Nigam of ElasticRun. In an interview with ET on October 22, Alex Clavel -- who is taking over as CEO at SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) and SoftBank Global Advisers (SBGA) -- said India is among the company's top-performing markets following a wave of portfolio firms going public. "India is the world's most successful IPO market of 2024," he said, adding that other markets, including the US, have not seen as many IPOs, even outside of tech. Son had one-on-one conversations with some of the founders in the national capital. The lunch meeting focused largely on Son's macro outlook on the AI sector. "Very high level thinking and discussion on AI," one of the attendees said. Son has been putting his weight behind AI with a specific focus on semiconductors. He's bankrolling a $100 billion venture that will complement Arm Holdings, while competing with Nvidia in manufacturing semiconductors to be used for AI deployment, Bloomberg reported in February. Besides Son's own venture, SoftBank has also been building a position on AI. The conglomerate has made a $500 million bet -- with another $1.5 billion in the works -- on ChatGPT maker OpenAI through its Vision Fund investment vehicle. In July, SoftBank acquired UK-based AI chipmaker Graphcore for an undisclosed sum. Plans include involving Arm Holdings to help India churn out 1million chip designers by tying up with universities.

Masayoshi Son outlines vision to make India global chip capital

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and portfolio founders and CEOs on Wednesday as part of his ongoing India visit. In one-on-one conversations with several Indian entrepreneurs from SoftBank's portfolio, Son said he plans to make India the chip capital of the world amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has a plan to make India the chip capital of the world as artificial intelligence (AI) resets the technology landscape, said founders and senior executives he interacted with. On a whirlwind visit to India, Son also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. "Son believes India has the potential to emerge as the new Silicon Valley on the back of its chip design capabilities, moving away from the software services and coding focussed workforce," said one of the persons cited. The Japanese billionaire's plans include involving British semiconductor design company Arm Holdings to help India churn out 1 million chip designers by tying up with universities and institutions, another person said. SoftBank holds a 90% stake in Arm Holdings, which debuted on Nasdaq as the biggest IPO of 2023, raising $4.87 billion. Its latest market capitalisation is $140 billion. Son also told Indian entrepreneurs during a two-hour meeting earlier in the day about how they should think of AI in a non-linear way and map a vision for the next decade. He is learnt to have said that as much as $9-12 trillion in capital expenditure is expected to flow into AI infrastructure. On his India trip, he also met Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai on Tuesday to discuss possible AI opportunities. The central government has launched the Indian Semiconductor Mission (ISM) to further the country's chip manufacturing, packaging and design capabilities. ET reported in September that the mission is likely to see a budgetary allocation of $10 billion in its second phase. Incentives under ISM In the first phase, Tata Electronics' $11 billion proposal to set up a semiconductor fabrication unit in Gujarat was approved. Under the ISM programme, the government provides nearly 50% of capital subsidy to companies setting up semiconductor facilities. This is topped up another 15-25% by the state government where the plant is coming up. India visit timing SoftBank has been among the biggest backers of the Indian startup ecosystem over the last decade having invested $11 billion through its two Vision Funds. It reported a nearly $8 billion profit for the July-September quarter, its highest in over two years, driven by successful IPOs by Indian portfolio firms FirstCry and Ola Electric. SoftBank did not sell any shares during the public offering by Swiggy, of which it owns 8%. Portfolio companies like OfBusiness are expected to go public next year. Kalyan Krishnamurthy of Flipkart, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, Ritesh Agarwal of Oyo, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart and Albinder Dhindsa of Blinkit were present at Son's lunch meeting in New Delhi. He also met Khadim Batti of Whatfix, Ashish Mohapatra and Ruchi Kalra of OfBusiness, Vikram Chopra of Cars24, and Saurabh Nigam of ElasticRun. In an interview with ET on October 22, Alex Clavel -- who is taking over as CEO at SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) and SoftBank Global Advisers (SBGA) -- said India is among the company's top-performing markets following a wave of portfolio firms going public. "India is the world's most successful IPO market of 2024," he said, adding that other markets, including the US, have not seen as many IPOs, even outside of tech. Son's AI vision Son had one-on-one conversations with some of the founders in the national capital. The lunch meeting focused largely on Son's macro outlook on the AI sector. "Very high level thinking and discussion on AI," one of the attendees said. Son has been putting his weight behind AI with a specific focus on semiconductors. He's bankrolling a $100 billion venture that will complement Arm Holdings, while competing with Nvidia in manufacturing semiconductors to be used for AI deployment, Bloomberg reported in February. Besides Son's own venture, SoftBank has also been building a position on AI. The conglomerate has made a $500 million bet -- with another $1.5 billion in the works -- on ChatGPT maker OpenAI through its Vision Fund investment vehicle. In July, SoftBank acquired UK-based AI chipmaker Graphcore for an undisclosed sum.

Work On AI With 10-Year Perspective: Masayoshi Son

The Japanese tech investor has backed nearly a fifth of India's 100+ unicorns including Flipkart, Ola, Paytm, Delhivery, FirstCry, Swiggy, among others Japanese tech investor SoftBank's CEO Masayoshi Son urged the founders of his portfolio startups in India to "work" on artificial intelligence (AI) with a 10-year perspective. As per news agency PTI, Son told Indian founders during a meeting that AI will entail a capital expenditure of $9 Tn to $10 Tn globally, adding that startups making only a two to three year game plan for AI will be headed for "failure". Emphasising on building businesses around AI, he called on the founders to think in an exponential manner as "AI is not a linear thought process". Son also said that India could emerge as a "big player" in the chip design sector on account of "geopolitical reasons", adding that chip designing will be the heartbeat of the AI economy. "During meeting with the founders, Son said India's engineering talent is the biggest in the world. He said that due to geopolitical decoupling, India could be a big player in chip design. He mentioned SoftBank has invested $15 Bn in the last 10 years and SoftBank's investments in India could exceed that," the report quoted a source as saying. Son is on a two-day long visit to the country. He met Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on his first day in India on Tuesday and followed it up with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in the national capital. During the second leg of his India visit, Son met founders of multiple startups in SoftBank's India portfolio, including Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, OYO's Ritesh Agarwal, Ola Electric's Bhavish Aggarwal, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho, among others. He also met some of the founders individually, including InMobi's Naveen Tewari, to discuss potential collaborations in the fields of consumer technology and AI, the report said. "Always amazing to meet @masason! Such an energising discussion on AI, AGI, Energy and India. We will make the future here in India together," said Bhavish Aggarwal in a post on X. It is pertinent to note SoftBank is one of the biggest investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. The Japanese tech investor has so far invested more than $15 Bn in the country and backed nearly a fifth of India's 100+ unicorns, including Flipkart, Ola, Paytm, Delhivery, FirstCry,, Swiggy, among others.

SoftBank's Masayoshi Son meets InMobi's Naveen Tewari to explore potential AI, consumer tech collabs

In 2011, the Japanese firm made a landmark investment of USD 200 million in InMobi, marking its first venture into the Indian market. Glance is a platform developed by InMobi that enhances the smartphone user experience by providing personalised content directly on the lock screen.Japan's SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son, who is on a visit to India, reportedly met InMobi's founder and CEO Naveen Tewari on Wednesday and discussed further potential collaborations in consumer tech and AI, according to sources in the know. InMobi, India's first unicorn, is a Softbank portfolio company. In 2011, the Japanese firm made a landmark investment of USD 200 million in InMobi, marking its first venture into the Indian market. "The discussion between Masa and Tewari reportedly centred on further collaborations in India and global markets, especially in consumer tech and artificial intelligence (AI) -- domains where InMobi and Glance have established themselves as global leaders originating from India," the source with direct knowledge of the matter told PTI. Glance is a platform developed by InMobi that enhances the smartphone user experience by providing personalised content directly on the lock screen. InMobi also operates Roposo, a short video platform. Son is currently on a brief visit to India, which began on November 26 and is expected to conclude shortly after he meets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 27. His discussions with Modi are anticipated to revolve around SoftBank's future investments in India, particularly in the tech and AI sectors. The specifics of these discussions have not been disclosed, but they come at a time when SoftBank is looking to capitalise on the booming Indian startup ecosystem. This trip marks Son's first return to India since March 2023 when he was in the country to attend the wedding of OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal. The billionaire-founder met Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday, where they discussed potential opportunities in AI within India. He also met Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal, who took to the micro-blogging site X to share the news. "Always amazing to meet @masason! Such a energising discussion on AI, AGI, Energy and India. We will make the future here in India together," he wrote. Over the years, Softbank has invested in several high-profile Indian companies such as Flipkart, Ola, Paytm, Delhivery, FirstCry, and Swiggy.