SoftBank Aims To Become The Leading Artificial Superintelligence Company Within the Next 10 Years

SoftBank Group announced this Friday that it wants to become the largest provider for the leading artificial super intelligence (ASI) platform within the next 10 years. The company’s CEO, Masayoshi Son, explained at a conference that they are working to take the lead in ASI technology development.

According to Reuters, Son addressed a group of stakeholders at the company’s annual meeting and emphasised the need for leadership as well as SoftBank’s commitment to OpenAI.

“We want to become the organiser of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era,” said Son. The CEO also mentioned being “all in on OpenAI.”

SoftBank appears to be focusingheavily on ASI, joining other tech companies on this emerging trend. A few days ago, Meta announced it is building a new “superintelligence” AI lab and has been recruiting talent and acquiring companies such as Scale AI for this initiative.

OpenAI has also reminded the public that it is a “superintelligence research company,” just days after Meta’s announcement, increasing the tension in the ASI race. SoftBank has invested  $32 billion in OpenAI since autumn 2024 and plans to underwrite up to $40 billion in new funding this year.

Son said he regretted not investing more in OpenAI back in 2019 and noted that he expects the company to go public soon. Both companies are also working in joint ventures such as the $500 billion Stargate project, which aims to develop advanced technology for the United States.

According to CNBC, SoftBank takes advantage of the tensions between OpenAI and Microsoft to gain ground as an ally of the AI company.

Son has previously described ASI as “AI that is 10,000 times smarter than humans.” Besides OpenAI, SoftBank believes that its alliance with the British semiconductor company Arm is crucial to advancing this technology.

SoftBank has been aggressively investing in AI-related companies and technologies, and is reportedly interested in establishing an industrial complex in the U.S. dedicated to developing AI technologies.