SoftBank Group chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son ended his months-long silence saying the Japanese investment firm is in the position to capitalize on the AI revolution, thanks to its billions of dollars of tech investments.
During a shareholders’ annual general meeting held in Tokyo, Son stressed the explosive development of AI that it’ll be “omnipotent” to help resolve issues of humankind. He stated after three years of taking a thorough defense mode, SoftBank now has over 5 trillion yen (US$ 35.3 billion) in cash to support innovations related to generative AI.
SoftBank engages in venture capital investing through its Vision Fund, which reported a US$ 32 billion loss in May. The billionaire hid from the public spotlight after it halted new investments and reduced its stake in Alibaba, to focus on taking its chip design unit, Arm Ltd., public. Prospects for Arm’s IPO have buoyed by the hype surrounding AI, as Intel is reportedly being mentioned as a potential anchor investor.
Son has said he’s been busy exploring generative AI’s transformative potential for more than SoftBank’s 400 portfolio companies that include ByteDance, DiDi Grocery and Coupang. The 65-year-old billionaire said he talks frequently with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about ways SoftBank’s domestic search engine operator Z Holdings can channel ChatGPT for Japanese language users.
In May, SoftBank said it has joined forces with NVIDIA on a platform for generative AI and 5G/6G applications that the Japanese investment firm aims to introduce at their new AI data centers in Japan. This goes hand-in-hand with the Japanese government’s plan released earlier this month, a revised action plan stating the government’s support to boost R&D for AI development in Japan.
