The first thing Masayoshi Son will do after Arm goes public: Invest in OpenAI?

Source: "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily"

Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI

For SoftBank and Masayoshi Son, the successful listing of chip design company Arm has timely replenished the investment "ammunition arsenal", and their next main position has been determined - AI.

On September 16, local time, the Financial Times reported that after Arm’s listing, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son hopes to continue investing tens of billions of dollars in the field of AI, and OpenAI is one of the potential investment targets. **

Competitors investing in OpenAI are also under consideration by Sun Zhengyi. Reports say that Sun Zhengyi also plans to acquire the British chip company Graphcore to deepen its in-depth layout in the AI field.

However, the three companies mentioned above all responded to this rumor other than affirmatively. SoftBank and OpenAI said they "declined to comment," while Graphcore directly denied "receiving an acquisition offer from SoftBank."

No matter who it invests in the field of AI, SoftBank seems to be eager to take the plunge. According to people close to Son’s inner circle, Son’s enthusiasm for investment has rebounded strongly in recent months and he will switch to “offensive mode”.

Last Thursday, U.S. time, Arm was listed on the Nasdaq exchange and was enthusiastically sought after by investors. The company's IPO rose nearly 25% on the first day, with a market value of more than $65 billion, making it the world's largest IPO of the year. Two trading days later, Arm’s current share price is US$60.75, with a market value of US$62.3 billion.

After Arm's IPO, SoftBank still controls about 90% of the company's shares, and Masayoshi Son continues to serve as Chairman of Arm's board of directors. Forbes estimates Son's net worth exceeds $24 billion, ranking him 69th on the world's richest list.

Analysts said that **Arm’s initial public offering on Thursday raised nearly US$5 billion in funds, which will expand SoftBank’s capital scale to US$65 billion, including SoftBank’s own cash and the use of its investment in Arm The remaining 90% of the shares are used as collateral for the loan. **

Masayoshi Son’s choice of AI is unexpected. Since this year, he has hinted at this investment direction in public again and again.

On the day ARM was listed, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son supported AI in an interview, saying that artificial intelligence can help solve some of the world’s biggest problems and may surpass human intelligence. “I think I am an artificial intelligence believer. I am optimistic that , artificial intelligence will solve problems that humans could not solve in the past."

In June this year, Masayoshi Son said at SoftBank’s annual shareholder meeting that artificial intelligence is bringing about explosive changes and that the company will soon launch an offensive to end the relative dormancy of the venture capital field for more than a year. “Now it’s time to shift gears. It’s time, the singularity of the artificial intelligence revolution is coming. In the next 10 years, artificial intelligence will change the world, and SoftBank will become a leader in the field of artificial intelligence. And SoftBank has prepared sufficient ammunition.”

He calls himself a "heavy user" of ChatGPT, chatting with it almost every day, and has a close relationship with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, whom Son describes as "one of the key people on the planet."

According to media reports, SoftBank’s mobile unit has entered into a business partnership with OpenAI to provide services to Japanese companies looking to deploy generative artificial intelligence technologies such as chatbots. In addition, SoftBank's mobile subsidiary also expressed its hope to develop its own Japanese version of ChatGPT.

SoftBank, the former global technology investment giant, will re-enter the AI arms race. But it should be noted that SoftBank is currently facing huge challenges. The first quarter financial report shows that SoftBank Vision Fund lost 297.5 billion yen, equivalent to 15.33 billion yuan, in three months, compared with a loss of 2.2 trillion yen, equivalent to 113.33 billion yuan, in the same period last year.

Due to poor investment, SoftBank Group was previously reported to be planning a new round of layoffs for its investment arm, the Vision Fund, which is expected to be announced in the next two weeks, affecting up to 30% of employees.

Huge losses also caused SoftBank to significantly reduce its investment activities. According to Cailianshe Venture Capital-Zhizhong data, SoftBank Vision Fund (No. 1 and 2) has only made 4 investments since the beginning of this year, and only one of the invested companies is related to AI.