Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank Group, stated his goal for the Japanese technology investment group to become the largest platform provider for “artificial superintelligence” in the coming decade.
The SoftBank CEO told shareholders during the company’s annual meeting, “We want to become the organizer of the industry in the artificial superintelligence era.”
Masayoshi Son compared his goal to the dominance of tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet’s Google, which profit from a “winner takes all” situation.
He previously stated in public that artificial superintelligence is a technology capable of outperforming humans by a factor of 10,000.
SoftBank has resumed its aggressive investment strategies that contributed to Son’s fame, including an early bet on Alibaba that sometimes backfired spectacularly, such as its significant investment in the now-defunct shared office provider WeWork.
This year’s AI-related transactions include the USD 6.5 billion acquisition of American semiconductor designer Ampere and the underwriting of a potential USD 40 billion investment in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Masayoshi Son said he regretted not investing sooner and that SoftBank’s total agreed investment in OpenAI now stands at USD 32 billion since the company’s initial investment in the fall of 2024. He also expressed his expectation that OpenAI would eventually go public.
Up until 2019, SoftBank held about 5% of Nvidia. By the end of 2022, ChatGPT had sparked a surge in interest in AI. Currently leading the AI chip industry, Nvidia is among the most valuable corporations in the world.
Masayoshi Son’s most recent spending spree comes after years of layoffs, as the high-growth tech companies SoftBank had invested billions in through its Vision Fund vehicles saw a sharp decline in value starting in 2022. In September 2023, SoftBank raised about USD 5 billion to list chip designer Arm, changing fortunes once again. The group’s assets have increased due to the British company’s rising share price, which SoftBank can use to borrow money for new investments.
According to him, SoftBank has maintained the user base and financial resources necessary to occasionally take risks, and the company is committed to making wise investments. The sale of some T-Mobile shares earlier in June brought in USD 4.08 billion.