SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son discusses AI investments in Riyadh on October 29. (©Sankei by Kazuya Nemoto)
On October 29, SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son spoke at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He discussed his company's focus on AI ventures.
Son shared, "Now I'm saving tens of billions of dollars" to make the "next big move," although he did not disclose specific plans. He intends to remain fully committed to AI-focused businesses, focusing on the growth of Arm, the semiconductor design company based in the United Kingdom under SoftBank's umbrella.
Commitment to AI
Furthermore, Son spoke about ASI (artificial superintelligence), which he believes will surpass human intelligence 10,000 times. Expressing his commitment to its advancement, the CEO stated that he was focusing exclusively on this for the "happiness of humanity." He predicted that ASI would exist by 2035.
The CEO also confirmed that he is amassing substantial funds for the next investment phase. While he hinted that a direction is already set, he declined to provide details. He also highlighted Arm's role, emphasizing that its semiconductor chips will be essential to AI development, reaffirming Arm's importance to SoftBank's core business strategy.
Rejecting 'Bubble' Narrative
Additionally, Son firmly rejected the idea that the recent AI boom is a bubble. He pointed to the American company NVIDIA, which recently became the world's highest-ranked company by market capitalization due to its production of GPUs used in generative AI, stating it is still "undervalued." Son expressed his belief that the AI market will continue to grow.
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(Read the article in Japanese.)
Author: Kazuya Nemoto, The Sankei Shimbun
