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yesterday

SoftBank Pledges $33.2 Billion to OpenAI as It Seeks Artificial Super Intelligence Dominance

Son says the funds will underpin his goal of building an AI platform that outperforms human cognition by a factor of 10,000.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at the SoftBank World 2023 corporate conference, in Tokyo, Japan October 4, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Tang/File Photo
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Overview

  • At its annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo, Masayoshi Son confirmed SoftBank’s commitment of about 4.8 trillion yen ($33.2 billion) to OpenAI despite the company’s unlisted and unprofitable status.
  • The group completed a $6.5 billion acquisition of U.S. chip designer Ampere to boost its AI hardware capabilities.
  • Son revealed that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had sought a $10 billion investment before 2019—a chance SoftBank let slip while Microsoft became the initial lead backer.
  • SoftBank said it could slash its share of a $30 billion OpenAI funding round to $20 billion if the company does not convert to a for-profit structure by Dec. 31.
  • Son reiterated his decade-long aim to make SoftBank the ‘organizer’ of the artificial super intelligence era, positioning it to outpace Microsoft, Amazon and Google.