TOKYO (Reuters) -SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said on Friday that he wants the investment group to become the biggest platform provider for “artificial super intelligence” within the next 10 years.
“We want to become the organiser of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era,” Son told shareholders at the group’s annual shareholder meeting.
Son likened his aim to the position of dominant technology platform providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet’s Google, who benefit from a “winner takes all” dynamic.
At previous public appearances Son has described artificial super intelligence as exceeding human capabilities by a factor of 10,000.
The technology investment group has returned to making the aggressive investments that made Son’s name and fortune, such as an early bet on Alibaba, but at times spectacularly backfired, like failed shared office provider WeWork.
SoftBank’s mammoth investments related to artificial intelligence in 2025 include acquiring U.S. semiconductor design company Ampere for $6.5 billion and the underwriting of up to $40 billion of new investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Son said Softbank’s total agreed investment in OpenAI now stood at $32 billion and that he expected OpenAI to eventually list publicly.
“I’m all in on OpenAI,” Son said.
(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)
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