SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Confident in OpenAI's Future

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp., spoke at the company's annual general meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, June 27, 2025, about SoftBank's significant investment in OpenAI. Son stated that SoftBank is 'all in' on OpenAI, aiming to realize the vision of 'artificial superintelligence.'

This year, SoftBank has been increasing its investments in OpenAI and participating in joint ventures such as the $500 billion Stargate project. According to Son, SoftBank's total planned investments in OpenAI will reach about 4.8 trillion Japanese yen ($33.2 billion), despite the company being unlisted and unprofitable.

“I think that OpenAI will be listed eventually and, in my belief, will become the most valuable company in the world,” Son said. He added, however, that it 'takes bravery to invest' in such a company.

Son revealed that before 2019, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had approached him about a potential $10 billion investment. “I said, yes, I would ... I was serious because I had financial resources thanks to Vision Fund's performance. But obviously, Sam talked to other potential investors, and eventually, they picked Microsoft,” he said.

Microsoft ultimately secured the deal, becoming the exclusive provider of computing power for OpenAI's research, products, and programming interfaces for developers. However, Microsoft lost its status as OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider at the start of this year. Recent reports suggest that Microsoft has not approved an OpenAI restructuring plan that would turn it into a more conventional for-profit company.

Touching on these reports, Son suggested that Altman should have chosen SoftBank, not Microsoft, as its initial partner. He noted that SoftBank was smaller at the time and that Microsoft had its global supply chains, technical talents, and brand value to offer.

SoftBank has previously stated that it could reduce its portion of its $30 billion investment in OpenAI's latest funding round to $20 billion if it doesn't restructure into a for-profit entity by Dec. 31. However, on Friday, Son said that his conviction on OpenAI has only grown stronger and that SoftBank will continue to deepen its relationship with the company, regardless of what happens with Microsoft.

Part of Son's belief in OpenAI stems from his desire for SoftBank to be at the center of 'artificial superintelligence,' which he has described as AI that is 10,000 times smarter than humans. Son wants SoftBank to become the biggest platform provider for this ASI within the next decade, serving as the 'organizer of the industry in the artificial superintelligence era.'

He added that SoftBank's partnership with OpenAI, along with British semiconductor company Arm, which SoftBank acquired in 2016, would be essential to these plans. SoftBank has been increasingly aggressive in its AI-related investments, including the acquisition of U.S.-based chips designer Ampere for $6.5 billion earlier this year.

Bloomberg News reported last week that Son is also considering establishing a $1 trillion industrial complex in the U.S. that will develop AI.

Son's commitment to OpenAI and the pursuit of artificial superintelligence underscores SoftBank's strategic focus on leading the next wave of technological innovation.