SoftBank And OpenAI Announce Joint Venture AI In Japan

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman OpenAI CEO (right)

JAKARTA - SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son announced on Monday 3 February that he had agreed to cooperate with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to establish a joint venture in Japan that would offer artificial intelligence (AI) services to corporate customers.

The joint venture, named SB OpenAI Japan, will be owned by OpenAI and a company founded by SoftBank and its subsidiaries in the telecommunications sector. The Japanese investment giant will also pay $3 billion per year to use OpenAI technology in all SoftBank group companies.

Son is trying to deepen his involvement in OpenAI, with SoftBank planning to invest 15 billion to 25 billion US dollars into the company.

SoftBank is also committed to injecting $115 billion into Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI and Oracle to build AI capacity in the United States as reported by Reuters. Last month's Stargate launch marked Son's second appearance with Donald Trump since Trump's election as president in November.

Amid enthusiasm for AI, the presence of DeepSek from China has sparked questions among investors about the billions of dollars allocated to AI technology. DeepSek offers a model that appears to be able to compete with the capabilities of leading US companies.

"The world will need so much computing," Altman said, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

Son's support for OpenAI reflects his return to investment power after a period of decline sparked by the decline in the value of SoftBank's technology portfolio and a series of sticking failures.

Son has a long history of partnering with technology companies in the US, including bringing the iPhone to Japan in 2008. On Monday, Son and Altman also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.