SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Sets Sights On Artificial Super Intelligence Domination With Bets On OpenAI And Ampere: 'I'm All In'

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.

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).

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