Japanese multinational firm SoftBank announced that it is considering a major investment in OpenAI following the ARM IPO.
SoftBank, a Japanese multinational holding company with a market value of $66 billion, is looking for new ways to deploy capital. Following the successful initial public offering (IPO) of UK chip designer ARM, the investment giant is reportedly considering significant investments in the artificial intelligence sector, and OpenAI in particular.
According to a report by the Financial Times, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is noted to be actively interested in artificial intelligence, especially OpenAI’s famous ChatGPT. Son said at a meeting in June that he used ChatGPT as a brainstorming tool. For this reason, it was stated that the application revived the interest of Japanese investors in aggressive technology investments.
“I chat with ChatGPT every day”
Son admitted that he is a heavy user of the chatbot, saying, “I chat with ChatGPT every day.” said.
It was envisioned that the basis for a potential collaboration between SoftBank and OpenAI would be based on the existing relationship between Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Frequent communication between these two industry leaders has signaled a promising alliance that could get SoftBank back into the AI game. It was noted that this would be a savior move, considering SoftBank’s decision to sell all Nvidia shares in 2019 and missed the next bull run, which would have yielded a potential return of 1,070 percent today.
Softbank’s move was also seen as being in line with Son’s renewed approach to investments, shifting from a cautious stance to a more proactive role in the technology sector.
Increase of over $4.4 trillion
The potential investment in OpenAI has significant implications for the industry. The prolific AI industry is poised for significant growth, with estimates pointing to a potential increase of over $4.4 trillion in the coming years. Backed by an expanded partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI stands as a strong competitor in this space. ChatGPT has achieved unprecedented growth since its inception, creating a remarkable impact across industries.
On the other hand, rumors began to emerge that OpenAI was trying to extend the GPT-4 model to make it multimodal, and possible secret development of GPT-5 after the company filed a trademark for GPT-5 in July.
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