Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Buys Oracle-Backed Ampere For $6.5 Billion To Boost US AI Push

On Wednesday, SoftBank Group SFTBF SFTBY announced that it has acquired Ampere Computing in a $6.5 billion deal, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2025.

What Happened: Ampere, backed by Oracle Corp ORCL and Carlyle Group Inc. CG, designs high-performance server chips based on Arm Holdings PLC – ADR ARM architecture.

Both Oracle and Carlyle will sell their stakes as part of the transaction.

Founded in 2017 by Renee James, a former Intel Corp president, Ampere will operate as an independent subsidiary of SoftBank and retain its headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

The company currently employs around 1,000 semiconductor engineers.

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Why It's Important: The acquisition signals SoftBank's aggressive pivot toward AI infrastructure, following its partnership with OpenAI and involvement in the Donald Trump-backed $500 billion Stargate initiative.

The move also bolsters SoftBank's Arm ecosystem, following its $32 billion acquisition of Arm in 2016 and Arm's 2023 IPO.

SoftBank also plans to build a $676 million AI data center in Japan. This facility is expected to support large-scale AI projects, further enhancing SoftBank’s AI ecosystem.

Earlier this week, the company also unveiled a new AI model designed to optimize telecom operations.

Photo by NP27 on Shutterstock.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.