SoftBank, under the leadership of CEO Masayoshi Son, is making a bold move in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) by investing a staggering $100 billion in AI chips. This substantial investment is seen as a direct challenge to Nvidia, a major player known for its computer graphic chips.
The plan is for SoftBank to inject $30 billion of its own funds into the project while seeking an additional $70 billion from investors in the Middle East. The aim is to establish SoftBank as a significant player in the AI industry and potentially disrupt Nvidia’s dominance in the market. This move comes as the tech industry evolves, with companies vying for supremacy in emerging sectors like AI and chip manufacturing.
SoftBank’s collaboration with UK-based Arm, in which it already holds a 90 per cent stake, is a key component of this ambitious initiative. Arm recently attracted attention when Nvidia announced a $147.3 million investment in the company, with SoftBank’s approval. While SoftBank acquired Arm for $32 billion in 2016, a subsequent attempt to sell it to Nvidia for $40 billion in 2022 faced regulatory hurdles, underscoring the complexity of such high-value transactions.
However, SoftBank is not alone in its grand plans for the AI landscape. Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is also aiming high by engaging with investors, including the government of the UAE, to secure funding for chip development. Altman has requested a staggering $7 trillion to address the scarcity of GPUs needed to support OpenAI’s AI research and development objectives.
With global chip sales surpassing $527 billion last year and projected to exceed $1 trillion annually by 2030, the competition in the AI chip market is set to intensify. As industry giants like SoftBank and ambitious startups like OpenAI make strategic moves to gain a competitive edge, the future of AI technology remains dynamic and fiercely competitive.
