Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp.
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son on Wednesday said the Japanese investment firm plans to switch from “defensive mode” to “offensive mode” and needs to capitalize on the AI revolution.
“Now could be the time to go into offensive mode,” Son said on the annual general meeting of shareholders.
“Over the previous few years, we have been specializing in being [on] ‘defense.’ Three years ago, we did not have much money readily available. But since we were in defense mode, we have now raised money up to five trillion yen ($35.3 billion), Son said.
“We’re ready to go into offensive mode. I’m enthusiastic about it,” said Son.
The tech conglomerate, which engages in enterprise capital investments through the Vision Fund, has had its justifiable share of ups and downs. He was in “defensive mode”, withholding recent investments and reducing his holdings Alibaba. In May, the Vision Fund reported a record lack of $32 billion.
“What I’m most curious about and what I’m working on is the AI revolution. I think humanity might be surpassed by computer or artificial intelligence,” Son said.
“We would like to be [in] leading the AI revolution,” said Son.
SoftBank shares were up 2.63% in Wednesday morning trading.
The Vision Fund invested in Chinese tech firms and was subsequently affected by Beijing’s crackdown on the country’s tech sector and the next decline in share prices. SoftBank’s portfolio firms include ByteDance, DiDi Grocery Store, Coupang and more.
SoftBank is preparing for an IPO of ARM, the British chip design company it acquired in 2016. ARM applied for US listing SoftBank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto said the IPO process was “progressing easily”.
Artificial intelligence has experienced exponential growth in recent months, fueled by the virality of the chatbot ChatGPT. ChatGPT has amazed researchers and the general public with its ability to generate human responses to user prompts.
Son said on Tuesday that he’s a “heavy ChatGPT user” and that ChatGPT is “amazing”.
“The Fate of SoftBank [are] wants to turn around,” Amir Anvarzadeh, Japanese equity strategist at Asymmetric Advisors, told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Wednesday after SoftBank’s shareholder meeting.
“You’ll be able to understand why Nvidia wanted to buy Arm just a few years ago because they obviously wanted to have the entire architecture to themselves. Now, looking back, it is sensible.” The American chip maker has abandoned a $40 billion deal to acquire Arm.
“We thought $30 billion was what Arm was value. I feel now even $60 billion may not seem crazy given the background,” Anvarzadeh said.
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