SoftBank Group Corp shares rose as founder Masayoshi Son mulls creating a $100 billion chip venture that would supply semiconductors that power artificial intelligence.
Shares of the Tokyo-based technology investment firm rose as much as 3.2% after Bloomberg News reported that the 66-year-old billionaire is seeking funding to foray into artificial intelligence chips to compete with Nvidia Corp. The project, codenamed Izanagi, aims to build an AI chip factory that would complement Arm Holdings Plc, the chip designer in which SoftBank Group Corp. owns a majority stake.
One scenario Son is considering is for SoftBank to provide $30 billion, with $70 billion coming from institutions in the Middle East, one of the people said.
If successful, the chip project would not only dwarf Microsoft’s bet on OpenAI but capture nearly a fifth of the global semiconductor market. Named after the Japanese god of creation and life, the project reflects Son’s unbridled enthusiasm for artificial general intelligence. Son has often said that a world filled with machines that are smarter than humans would be a happier place.
After a series of setbacks in his startup investments, the Japanese entrepreneur has seen Arm’s company do well. SoftBank shares have gained about 30% in the last 10 trading sessions, with Arm’s shares up more than 80%.
Son now sees AI as an opportunity to create a company that could rival the Magnificent Seven stocks on Wall Street, the people said.
SoftBank had 6.2 trillion yen ($41 billion) in cash and cash equivalents as of Dec. 31, helped by a global stock market rally. Its balance sheet got a boost from a surprise gain in T-Mobile US shares, worth about $8 billion, as well as from the company’s 90% stake in Arm.
