Hype Money: SoftBank is a Japanese investment holding company primarily focused on technology ventures. In the past, the financial giant has backed some of the world's most influential companies, ranging from unprofitable "unicorns" to high-growth tech firms that have delivered substantial returns. More recently, the group has shifted its focus toward artificial intelligence, with a particular interest in U.S.-based OpenAI.
According to sources cited by the Financial Times, SoftBank is planning to significantly increase its investment in OpenAI. The AI company, which transitioned from an open-source research initiative to a for-profit business, is now seeking new investors beyond Microsoft's influence. The investment firm led by Masayoshi Son could emerge as the major partner OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been looking for.
SoftBank could invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI, sources say, in addition to its recent involvement in the Stargate project, an initiative focused on building data centers and computing infrastructure in the United States. SoftBank has already announced a $15 billion investment in Donald Trump's ambitious AI project, in which OpenAI is also a participant. Taking all these investments into account, SoftBank's total commitment to AI related ventures could reach approximately $40 billion.
Discussions between the two companies are still in the early stages, according to FT, and no formal agreement has been reached yet. If SoftBank commits $15 billion or more, it would become OpenAI's largest single investor. Currently, Microsoft holds the biggest stake in OpenAI, but Altman is actively seeking to reduce the company's dependence on the Redmond-based tech giant. As part of the Stargate initiative, Microsoft has already agreed to relinquish any exclusivity rights to OpenAI's technology.
SoftBank's ambitions in the AI sector have been known for years, and CEO Masayoshi Son is a firm believer that AI will revolutionize nearly every industry. Son has been quoted saying that artificial general intelligence (AGI) – AI capable of outperforming humans in nearly all intellectual tasks – could be developed by 2030. Son believes AGI will fundamentally reshape society, however achieving AGI and other cutting-edge AI advancements will require substantial financial investment.
Meanwhile, the most recent GenAI development this year has come from China's DeepSeek which could potentially disrupt current industry expectations, alongside Wall Street's most ambitious profit projections. DeepSeek's accomplishment is particularly noteworthy given the company's claim to have trained a model with 671 billion parameters using just 2,048 Nvidia H800 GPUs and $5.6 million, a small fraction of the resources typically required by industry giants like OpenAI and Google.
While awaiting SoftBank's potential investment, OpenAI has already secured significant funding in recent years, raising approximately $20 billion. Microsoft has contributed about $13 billion, and SoftBank got its slice of the AI cake by spending $2 billion. Meanwhile, Sam Altman continues working to transition OpenAI into a fully for-profit business – an effort that has drawn criticism, particularly from early backer Elon Musk, who has positioned himself as a challenger to OpenAI's evolving business model.
