SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. If completed, this deal would make the Japanese investment giant OpenAI’s largest financial backer. The potential investment, estimated between $15 billion and $25 billion, highlights SoftBank’s growing commitment to artificial intelligence.
Strengthening OpenAI’s Future
SoftBank already holds a stake in OpenAI and recently joined a funding round that valued the company at $157 billion. Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest shareholder, also participated in that round. SoftBank, known for investing in ByteDance (TikTok’s parent) and Arm (the British chip designer), sees AI as a key growth area.
To expand AI infrastructure, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle have launched Stargate, a project aiming to build AI-focused data centers. Former U.S. President Donald Trump called it “the largest AI infrastructure project in history”, with an initial budget of $100 billion. Reports suggest SoftBank’s equity investment in OpenAI would also cover its commitment to Stargate.
Growing Competition from China
OpenAI faces increasing competition, particularly from China. The new AI startup DeepSeek recently launched a chatbot that topped the Apple free app store rankings. This release caused AI-related stocks to plunge.
Initially, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, praised the competition, calling DeepSeek “legitimately invigorating”. However, OpenAI later revealed that some Chinese startups were using its technology to develop competing products.
SoftBank’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, has already presented the investment proposal to OpenAI’s leadership. While the deal is not yet finalized, it could become one of the largest AI investments in history, strengthening OpenAI’s dominance in the industry.
