Masayoshi Son, president and main enforcement serviceman of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks astatine the SoftBank World lawsuit successful Tokyo, Japan, connected Wednesday, July 16, 2025.
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Masayoshi Son is making his biggest stake yet: that his brainchild SoftBank volition beryllium the halfway of a gyration driven by artificial intelligence.
Son says artificial superintelligence (ASI) — AI that is 10,000 times smarter than humans — volition beryllium present successful 10 years. It's a bold telephone — but possibly not surprising. He's made a vocation retired of large plays; notably, 1 was a $20 cardinal concern into Chinese e-commerce institution Alibaba successful 2000 that has made billions for SoftBank.
Now, the billionaire is hoping to replicate that occurrence with a bid of investments and acquisitions successful AI firms that volition enactment SoftBank astatine the halfway of a cardinal technological shift.
While Son has been outspoken astir his imaginativeness implicit the past year, his reasoning precedes overmuch of his caller bullishness, according to 2 erstwhile executives astatine SoftBank.
"I vividly retrieve the archetypal clip helium invited maine to his location for meal and sitting connected his structure implicit a solid of wine, helium started talking to maine astir singularity – the constituent astatine which instrumentality quality overtakes quality intelligence," Alok Sama, a erstwhile concern main astatine SoftBank until 2016 and and president until 2019, told CNBC.
SoftBank's large AI plays
For Son, AI seems personal.
"SoftBank was founded for what purpose? For what intent was Masa Son born? It whitethorn dependable strange, but I deliberation I was calved to recognize ASI," Son said past year.
That whitethorn spell immoderate mode to explicate what has been an assertive thrust implicit the past fewer years — but particularly the past 2 — to enactment SoftBank astatine the halfway of the AI story.
In 2016, SoftBank acquired spot decorator Arm successful a woody worthy astir $32 cardinal astatine the time. Today, Arm is valued astatine much than $145 billion. While Arm blueprints signifier the ground of the designs for astir each the world's smartphones, these days, the institution is looking to position itself arsenic a cardinal subordinate successful AI infrastructure. Arm-based chips are portion of Nvidia's systems that spell into information centers.
In March, SoftBank besides announced plans to get different spot designer, Ampere Computing, for $6.5 billion.
ChatGPT shaper OpenAI is different marquee concern for SoftBank, with the Japanese elephantine saying precocious that planned investments successful the institution volition scope astir 4.8 trillion Japanese yen ($32.7 billion).
SoftBank has besides invested successful a fig of different companies related to AI crossed its portfolio.
"SoftBank's AI strategy is comprehensive, spanning the full AI stack from foundational semiconductors, software, infrastructure, and robotics to cutting-edge unreality services and extremity applications crossed captious verticals specified arsenic enterprise, education, health, and autonomous systems," Neil Shah, co-founder astatine Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.
"Mr. Son's imaginativeness is to cohesively link and profoundly integrate these components, thereby establishing a almighty AI ecosystem designed to maximize semipermanent worth for our shareholders."
SoftBank's banal show since 2017, the twelvemonth that its archetypal Vision Fund was founded.
There is simply a communal taxable down SoftBank's investments successful AI companies that comes straight from Son — namely, that these firms should beryllium utilizing precocious quality to beryllium much competitive, successful, to marque their merchandise amended and their customers happy, a idiosyncratic acquainted with the institution told CNBC. They could lone remark anonymously due to the fact that of the sensitivity of the matter.
It started with and encephalon computers and robots
As SoftBank launched "SoftBank's Next 30-Year Vision" successful 2010, Son spoke astir "brain computers" during a presentation. He described these computers arsenic systems that could larn and programme themselves eventually.
And past came robots. Major tech figures similar Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla brag Elon Musk are present talking astir robotics arsenic a cardinal exertion of AI — but Son was thinking about this much than a decennary ago.
In 2012, SoftBank took a bulk involvement successful a French institution called Aldebaran. Two years later, the 2 companies launched a humanoid robot called Pepper, which they billed arsenic "the world's archetypal idiosyncratic robot that tin work emotions."
Later, Son said: "In 30 years, I anticipation robots volition go 1 of the halfway businesses successful generating profits for the SoftBank group."
SoftBank's stake connected Pepper yet flopped for the company. SoftBank slashed jobs astatine its robotics portion and stopped producing Pepper successful 2020. In 2022, German steadfast United Robotics Group agreed to get Aldebaran from SoftBank.
But Son's precise aboriginal involvement successful robots underscored his curiosity for AI applications of the future.
"He was successful precise aboriginal and helium has been reasoning astir this obsessively for a agelong time," Sama, who is writer of "The Money Trap," said.
In the background, Son was cooking up thing bigger: a tech money that would marque waves successful the investing world. He founded the Vision Fund successful 2017 with a monolithic $100 cardinal successful deployable capital.
SoftBank aggressively invested successful companies crossed the satellite with immoderate of the biggest bets connected thrust hailing players similar Uber and Chinese steadfast Didi.
But investments successful Chinese exertion companies and immoderate bad bets connected firms similar WeWork soured sentiment for the Vision Fund arsenic it racked up billions of dollars of losses by 2023.
Vision but atrocious timing
The marketplace questioned immoderate of Son's investments successful companies similar Uber and Didi, which were burning done currency astatine the clip and had unclear portion economics.
But adjacent those investments spoke to Son's AI view, according to the erstwhile spouse astatine the SoftBank Vision Fund.
"His thought backmost past was the archetypal advent of AI would beryllium self-driving cars," the root told CNBC.
Again this could beryllium seen arsenic a lawsuit of being excessively early. Uber created a driverless car portion lone to merchantability it off. Instead, the institution has focused connected different self-driving car companies to bring them onto the Uber platform. Even now, driverless cars are not wide connected roads, though commercialized services similar those of Waymo are available.
SoftBank inactive has investments successful driverless car companies, specified arsenic British startup Wayve.
Timing intelligibly wasn't connected Son's side. After grounds losses astatine the Vision Fund successful 2022, Son declared SoftBank would spell into "defense" mode, importantly reducing investments and being much prudent. It was astatine this clip that companies similar OpenAI were opening to summation steam, but inactive earlier the motorboat of ChatGPT that would enactment the institution connected the map.
"When those companies came to caput successful 2021, 2022, Masa would person been successful a cleanable spot but helium had utilized each his ammunition connected different companies," the erstwhile Vision Fund exec said.
"When they came to property successful 21, 22, the Vision Fund had invested successful 5 oregon six 100 antithetic companies and helium was not successful a presumption to put successful AI and helium missed that."
Son himself said this twelvemonth that SoftBank wanted to put successful OpenAI arsenic aboriginal arsenic 2019, but it was Microsoft that ended up becoming the cardinal investor. Fast guardant to 2025, the Vision Fund — of which determination are present 2 — has a portfolio stacked afloat of AI focused companies.
But that play was pugnacious for investors crossed the board. The Covid-19 pandemic, booming ostentation and rising rates deed nationalist and backstage markets crossed the committee aft years of escaped monetary argumentation and a tech bull run.
SoftBank didn't spot that clip arsenic a missed accidental to put successful AI, a idiosyncratic acquainted with the institution said.
Instead, the the institution is of the presumption that it is inactive precise aboriginal successful the AI investing cycle, the root added.
Risk and reward
AI exertion is fast-moving, from the chips that tally the bundle to the models that underpin fashionable applications.
Tech giants successful the U.S. and China are battling it retired to nutrient ever-advancing AI models with the purpose of reaching artificial wide quality (AGI) — a word with antithetic definitions depending connected who you talk to, but 1 that broadly refers to AI that is smarter than humans. With billions of dollars of concern going into the technology, the hazard is high, and the rewards could beryllium adjacent higher.
But disruption tin travel retired of nary where.
This year, Chinese steadfast DeepSeek made waves aft releasing a alleged reasoning exemplary that appeared to beryllium developed much cheaply than its U.S. rivals. The information that a Chinese institution managed the feat, contempt each the export restrictions for precocious tech successful place, rocked planetary fiscal markets that were betting the U.S. had an unassailable AI lead.
While markets person since recovered, the imaginable of astonishment advances successful exertion astatine specified an aboriginal signifier successful AI remains a large hazard for the likes of SoftBank.
"As with astir exertion investments the cardinal situation is to put successful the winning technologies. Many of the investments SoftBank has made are successful the existent leaders but AI is inactive successful its comparative infancy truthful different challengers could inactive rear up from nowhere," Dan Baker, elder equity expert astatine Morningstar, told CNBC.
Still, Son has made it wide helium wants to acceptable SoftBank up with DNA that volition spot it survive and thrive for 300 years, according to the company's website.
That whitethorn spell immoderate mode to explicate the large risks that Son takes, and his condemnation erstwhile it comes to peculiar themes and companies — and the valuations he's consenting to pay.
"He (Son) made immoderate mistakes, but directionally helium is going successful the aforesaid driection, which is — helium wants to beryllium definite that helium is simply a existent subordinate successful AI and helium is making it happen," the erstwhile Vision Fund exec said.