Masayoshi Son’s Ambitious AI Strategy: Transforming SoftBank into the Central Hub of a 10-Year Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s founder, is placing his largest wager yet on the company becoming the epicenter of an impending revolution driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

Son anticipates that artificial superintelligence (ASI), a form of AI 10,000 times more intelligent than humans, will emerge within the next decade. While this prediction is bold, it aligns with Son’s history of taking audacious risks, notably his $20 million investment in Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant, back in 2000 which has since yielded billions for SoftBank.

Now, Son seeks to replicate this success through strategic investments and acquisitions in AI firms that position SoftBank at the forefront of a transformative technological shift.

Over the past year, Son has been vocal about his vision, although according to two former SoftBank executives, his thinking on this subject predates his recent bullish stance. Alok Sama, a former finance chief at SoftBank until 2016 and president until 2019, recounted a conversation with Son where he discussed the concept of singularity – the point at which machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence.

For Son, AI is deeply personal. “SoftBank was founded for what purpose? For what purpose was Masa Son born?” said Son last year, a statement that may shed light on his relentless pursuit to make SoftBank a key player in the AI landscape.

This determination has manifested in an aggressive drive over the past few years, particularly during the past two, to position SoftBank at the heart of the AI narrative.

In 2016, SoftBank acquired chip designer Arm in a deal worth approximately $32 billion at the time. Today, Arm is valued at over $145 billion. While Arm’s designs underpin nearly all smartphone chips worldwide, the company is now positioning itself as a crucial player in AI infrastructure. Arm-based chips are integral to Nvidia’s systems used in data centers.

In March 2023, SoftBank announced plans to acquire another chip designer, Ampere Computing, for $6.5 billion.

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is another notable investment for SoftBank, with the company expressing intentions to invest around 4.8 trillion Japanese yen ($32.7 billion) in the company.

SoftBank has also invested in numerous other AI-related companies across its portfolio. Neil Shah, co-founder at Counterpoint Research, noted that SoftBank’s AI strategy spans the entire AI stack, from foundational semiconductors and software to infrastructure, robotics, cloud services, and applications across critical sectors such as enterprise, education, health, and autonomous systems.

“Mr. Son’s vision is to cohesively connect and deeply integrate these components, thereby establishing a powerful AI ecosystem designed to maximize long-term value for our shareholders,” Shah added.

According to a source familiar with the company, SoftBank’s investments in AI companies reflect a common theme proposed by Son: these firms should harness advanced intelligence to become more competitive, successful, and customer-focused.

In 2010, as SoftBank unveiled its “30-Year Vision,” Son discussed “brain computers” during a presentation. He described these devices as systems capable of learning and programming themselves autonomously.

Son’s interest in robots also predates the current discourse on AI applications. In 2012, SoftBank took a majority stake in French company Aldebaran. Two years later, the two companies launched Pepper, a humanoid robot they marketed as “the world’s first personal robot that can read emotions.”

While SoftBank’s bet on Pepper ultimately failed for the company – leading to job cuts and the discontinuation of production in 2020 – German firm United Robotics Group agreed to acquire Aldebaran from SoftBank in 2022.

Despite this setback, Son’s early interest in robots underscores his curiosity for AI applications of the future. “He was in very early and he has been thinking about this obsessively for a long time,” Sama, author of “The Money Trap,” said.

In 2017, Son founded the Vision Fund with a massive $100 billion in deployable capital. SoftBank aggressively invested in companies worldwide, with some of its largest bets on ride-hailing players like Uber and Chinese firm Didi.

However, investments in Chinese technology companies and poor bets on firms like WeWork led to significant losses for the Vision Fund by 2023. The market questioned some of Son’s investments, particularly those in companies like Uber and Didi that were burning through cash at the time and had unclear business models.

Even so, these investments reflected Son’s AI vision, according to a former partner at the SoftBank Vision Fund. “His thought back then was the first advent of AI would be self-driving cars,” the source said.

While Son may have been too early in some instances – as evidenced by Uber selling its driverless car unit and focusing on other self-driving car companies instead – SoftBank still maintains investments in driverless car companies, such as British startup Wayve.

Timing has not always been in Son’s favor. After recording significant losses at the Vision Fund in 2022, Son declared that SoftBank would enter a defensive phase, significantly reducing investments and adopting a more cautious approach. It was during this period that companies like OpenAI were gaining momentum but had not yet launched products like ChatGPT.

“When those companies came to head in 2021, 2022, Masa would have been in a perfect place but he had used all his ammunition on other companies,” the former Vision Fund exec said.

“When they came to age in 21, 22, the Vision Fund had invested in five or six hundred different companies and he was not in a position to invest in AI and he missed that.”

Son himself acknowledged SoftBank’s desire to invest in OpenAI as early as 2019, but it was Microsoft that ended up becoming the key investor. In 2025, the Vision Fund – of which there are now two – boasts a portfolio packed with AI-focused companies.

However, this period was challenging for investors across the board. The Covid-19 pandemic, escalating inflation, and rising interest rates affected public and private markets after years of loose monetary policy and a tech bull run.

Despite these challenges, SoftBank views this time as an opportunity to invest in AI rather than a missed one, according to a source familiar with the company.

AI technology is evolving rapidly, from the chips that power software to the models underlying popular applications. Tech giants in the US and China are engaged in a fierce battle to develop ever-advancing AI models, aiming to reach artificial general intelligence (AGI) – a term with varying definitions but generally referring to AI more intelligent than humans. With billions of dollars being poured into this technology, the stakes are high, and potential rewards could be even higher.

However, disruption can occur suddenly. This year, Chinese firm DeepSeek made waves after releasing a so-called reasoning model that appeared to be developed more cheaply than its US rivals. The fact that a Chinese company managed this feat, despite all the export restrictions for advanced tech in place, caused shockwaves in global financial markets that had bet heavily on the US having an unassailable AI lead.

While markets have since recovered, the potential for unexpected advancements in technology at such an early stage in AI remains a significant risk for companies like SoftBank.

“As with most technology investments, the key challenge is to invest in the winning technologies,” Dan Baker, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNBC. “Many of the investments SoftBank has made are in the current leaders, but AI is still in its infancy, so other challengers could still emerge from nowhere.”

Still, Son remains committed to establishing SoftBank with a DNA that will ensure its survival and prosperity for 300 years, according to the company’s website. This may explain the bold risks Son takes and his unwavering conviction when it comes to particular themes and companies – and the valuations he is willing to pay.

“He (Son) made some mistakes, but directionally he is going in the same direction,” the former Vision Fund exec said, referring to Son’s determination to establish SoftBank as a major player in AI.