By Anton Bridge
TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters)
Founded in 1981 and headed by Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, Softbank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate. The original telecommunications company has since diversified its portfolio into broadband, e-commerce, finance, investments, and technology. This came about with aggressive investments in almost every major startup, such as satellites, robotics, artificial intelligence, and even computerized enhancements for human bodies.
A technological leadership drive
Chairman and CEO of Softbank, Masayoshi Son, is a confident and assertive leader in the overall tech scene. His strong opinion about the company has led to the development of a 300-year plan for the company. The end goal of this is to build one of the most valuable firms in the world.
SoftBank Group 9984.T CEO Masayoshi Son on Friday said he wants the Japanese technology investment group to become the biggest platform provider for “artificial super intelligence” within the next 10 years. “We want to become the organizer of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era,” Son told shareholders at the group’s annual shareholder meeting.
Son likened his aim to the position of dominant technology platform providers such as Microsoft MSFT.O, Amazon AMZN.O, and Alphabet’s GOOGL.O Google, which benefit from a “winner takes all” dynamic. At previous public appearances, Son has described artificial superintelligence as AI technology that is able to exceed human capabilities by a factor of 10,000.
Benchmarking against a dedicated international drive
SoftBank has returned to making the aggressive investments that made Son’s name, such as an early bet on Alibaba 9988.HK, but that at times spectacularly backfired, like its massive investment in failed shared office provider WeWork. Its AI-related deals this year include acquiring U.S. semiconductor designer Ampere for $6.5 billion and the underwriting of up to $40 billion of new investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Son said SoftBank’s total agreed investment in OpenAI now stood at $32 billion since first investing in Autumn 2024, and that he regretted not investing earlier. He also said he expected OpenAI to eventually go public. “I’m all in on OpenAI,” Son said. SoftBank had owned around 5% of Nvidia NVDA.O until it sold the stake in 2019, before ChatGPT generated a surge in AI interest at the end of 2022.
Nvidia now dominates AI chipmaking and has become one of the world’s most valuable companies. Son’s latest spending spree follows years of retrenchment after the high-growth tech startups into which SoftBank had invested billions of dollars through its Vision Fund investment vehicles crashed in value from 2022.
A futuristic investment drive
Fortunes changed again when SoftBank raised some $5 billion listing chip designer Arm in September 2023. The rise in the British firm’s share price since has boosted the group’s assets, against which SoftBank can take out debt to fund new investment.
Son said SoftBank was committed to prudent investment and that, throughout the peaks and troughs, SoftBank has maintained the financial resources and user base such that it can take risks at times. Earlier in June, it raised $4.8 billion from the sale of some shares in T-Mobile TMUS.O.
ASI, or otherwise known as Artificial Superintelligence, is a very advanced form of Artificial Intelligence. It possesses cognitive abilities that reach far beyond those of even the brightest of human minds. ASI differs quite extensively from current AI, or alternatively called Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI). The design of ANI allows it to perform specific tasks. ASI, on the other hand, will have the capability to generalize knowledge and be able to apply it across various fields. These fields can include arts, science, emotional intelligence, as well as mathematics. With ASI advances still in its early days, it would be interesting to note how the vision of the company and the CEO will combine with this.