Son Masayoshi said that his next major attempt could be a great success or a complete failure. He also stated that the company will primarily expand its power generation business in the United States to provide electricity for global ai projects.
On June 20th, Caixin learned that SoftBank head Masayoshi Son announced on Thursday that he is prepared to go all in on his next big tech bet, meaning the Japanese conglomerate is about to make a major investment in artificial intelligence (AI).
The billionaire spoke candidly at SoftBank's shareholder meeting, saying that his next big attempt could be a huge success or a total failure, but SoftBank has no choice but to try.
This echoes recent comments from SoftBank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto, who said that the company needs to take on more risk, especially with AI accelerating.
Going all in on AI.
Although SoftBank has not disclosed the specific details of the major investment, Son revealed a small "entrance": SoftBank will primarily expand its power generation business in the United States to provide electricity for AI projects worldwide. It is reported that SB Energy, a renewable energy company supported by SoftBank, is developing and operating renewable energy businesses across the United States.
He emphasized that the group will seek and invest in "seeds of future growth", mainly outside of Japan.
"We need to find the next big investment direction without worrying about whether it will be a success or a failure," Masayoshi Son added, "The vitality of the SoftBank Group comes from seeking new evolutionary seeds, especially abroad."
According to media reports in February, Masayoshi Son is seeking up to $100 billion to invest in a chip company to compete with Nvidia and provide necessary semiconductors for AI. The company is also in talks to acquire British semiconductor start-up Graphcore Ltd.
"Stored skills and abilities".
Earlier, SoftBank lost billions of dollars betting on WeWork. After the continuous losses on betting on start-ups, Masayoshi Son largely disappeared from public view and focused on chip-design subsidiary Arm and investment strategies related to AI. His latest statement on Thursday was one of the signals that he is prepared to make another move.
It is reported that, after years of mistakes made by Vision Fund, Masayoshi Son is preparing to launch another attack. Vision Fund is a $100 billion investment group created by him, supported by sovereign wealth funds and other large institutions, aimed at investing in some start-ups with huge potential. With Masayoshi Son's decision to focus on AI and semiconductors, the fund is steadily selling and writing down assets in its investment portfolio.
At the same time, SoftBank seems to have prepared enough money for its "big bet" in the AI field.
Data shows that as of the end of March, SoftBank has accumulated a cash reserve of 6.2 trillion yen. Moreover, the group has posted consecutive profits for two quarters and the value of investment assets such as Arm has risen sharply.
Arm, as the chip design company, plays a key role in SoftBank's AI strategy. According to the latest calculations, Arm's market cap has reached approximately $182.5 billion. It is reported that SoftBank, headed by Masayoshi Son, holds around 90% of Arm's shares. Based on the $32 billion that SoftBank paid to acquire Arm initially, this investment in Arm has yielded a profit of over $130 billion.