In a move that redefines the landscape of artificial intelligence, SoftBank Group, the Japanese giant led by visionary Masayoshi Son, has decided to go all in on OpenAI. The company has sold its entire stake in Nvidia, valued at $5.8 billion, to finance a massive investment in the creator of ChatGPT. This decision, recently announced, raises SoftBank's total commitment to OpenAI to approximately $34.7 billion by the end of December 2025, with the deal potentially reaching $40 billion.
Masayoshi Son, known for his bold predictions—such as the early investment in Alibaba that multiplied fortunes—sees OpenAI as the future of technology. The company, which has revolutionized generative AI, represents for Son not only a profitable opportunity but also a vision of a world transformed by superhuman intelligence. "AI will be 10,000 times more powerful than the human brain," Son has stated in the past, and OpenAI is the vehicle for making that prophecy a reality.
The numbers speak for themselves. In the second fiscal quarter of 2025, SoftBank reported net earnings of $16.6 billion, more than double the previous period, driven by the appreciation of its OpenAI portfolio. This windfall has allowed the Vision Fund, SoftBank's investment arm, to post earnings of $19 billion, with OpenAI as its star performer. To finance the additional $22.5 billion injection into OpenAI, SoftBank didn't hesitate to liquidate not only its stake in Nvidia—the king of AI chips—but also holdings in T-Mobile, freeing up liquidity at a time when Wall Street is questioning whether the AI boom is sustainable.
Why this all-out bet? OpenAI, with its rising valuation and alliances with Microsoft, promises long-term profitability. SoftBank isn't just investing capital; it's collaborating on the global expansion of AI, from language models to enterprise applications. However, it's not all euphoria. Critics warn of risks: increasing AI regulation, fierce competition from Google and Meta, and the possibility that the AI hype will deflate like past bubbles.
Even so, for Son, this is an existential gamble. SoftBank, which has dealt with losses at WeWork and other ventures, is looking to redeem itself with OpenAI as its anchor. If ChatGPT and its successors dominate, SoftBank could lead the post-human era. Otherwise, it could face financial collapse. On the chessboard of technology, Son has moved his queen to the center: checkmate or checkmate to the king? Time, and the algorithms, will tell.
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