SoftBank to invest $40B in OpenAI • The Register

The AI investment landscape is shifting once again, with SoftBank reportedly finalizing a $40 billion stake in OpenAI – pushing its valuation to around $300 billion.

If that sounds massive, it is. SoftBank’s planned investment dwarfs the $13 billion Microsoft has poured into OpenAI – an alliance that has already attracted plenty of antitrust scrutiny.

First revealed by CNBC, the yet-to-close SoftBank investment would begin paying out as soon as spring, and continue over the next one to two years. Part of the funding is expected to support OpenAI’s Stargate project, which aims to build advanced AI infrastructure with an eventual $500 billion price tag.

If it comes to fruition, it wouldn’t even be SoftBank’s first OpenAI-related announcement of February, despite us being only a week into the month. 

The pair announced a partnership on February 3 to develop and market an enterprise AI they call “Cristal intelligence” that SoftBank said would “securely integrate the systems and data” of businesses in a customized way for each deployment. Once set up, Cristal would use agentic AI to automate business tasks, and SoftBank wants to be sure it’s first in line to test the new systems.

“SoftBank Group Corp. will spend $3 billion US annually to deploy OpenAI’s solutions across its group companies, making it the first company in the world to integrate Cristal intelligence at scale,” the Japanese firm said Monday.  As part of the deal, SoftBank and OpenAI have formed a joint venture called “SB OpenAI Japan” to market Cristal to major Japanese companies. 

Oh, and the partnership also ensures SoftBank and its group companies – including Arm – “will be granted priority access in Japan to the latest and most-advanced models developed by OpenAI.” SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has been frothing-at-the-mouth bullish on AI, predicting last year that an artificial superintelligence 10,000 times smarter than a human brain would arrive within the next decade – if enough investment flows in.

So, where does this leave Microsoft? Playing second fiddle in the courting of OpenAI, it seems. 

Redmond labeled the Altman-led outfit a competitor in its 2024 annual report, noting that OpenAI’s products rival its own AI offerings—even as many of those Microsoft-branded tools rely on OpenAI’s models under the hood. The software giant has reportedly taken steps to change that, while also touting its evolving and close partnership.

We’ve reached out to SoftBank and OpenAI to confirm the new investment, and Microsoft to see if its feelings have been hurt, but haven’t heard back. ®