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The most famous of Japanese conglomerates has so far accustomed the world of finance to very often being among the best moves (ARM in the lead). And it therefore became quite surprising that SoftBank had not yet announced anything major around generative AI – apart from a merger with the Japanese subsidiary of Microsoft.
But according to a recent interview with SoftBank management, the tide is turning: “AtFrom now on, we want to intensify investments in AI companies”, indicates Yoshimitsu Goto, CFO of SoftBank cited by our colleagues from the Factory Digitale.
SoftBank finally enters the generative AI race
Before detailing its “counter offensive” on the subject. Everything is not quite finalized yet – the firm simply wants to invest more than 5.85 billion euros in total during the 2025 financial year to position itself on these technologies. But the ambition is clear: the group wants to establish itself as a world leader in generative AI in the medium term.
The first envelope announced therefore concerns the development of a large LLM in the Japanese language with more than 1,000 billion parameters. To do this, SoftBank wants to start by investing massively in computing infrastructure. Namely some 880 million euros (150 billion Japanese Yen).
The firm also announces a reorientation of its investments towards these technologies rather than 5G. A choice which is, however, not an 'abandonment'; of these technologies by the conglomerate. SoftBank management explains that “investment spending in 5G/6G and generative AI will have investment components more common in the future.
Beyond that, we understand that many company buyouts are on the table to quickly acquire the skills necessary to stay in the race. It now remains to be seen whether the amounts in question will be sufficient to compete with the current leaders in the sector.
To date, the capitalization of OpenAI, the origin of ChatGPT, is for example around 100 billion euros. A sum allowing the firm to move much faster to make particularly advanced technologies available to its customers, such as the new Voice Mode in real time, with “vision” allowing you to show the AI your environment and make it react naturally to what it sees.
- < li>The owner of ARM announces a major reorientation of its investments towards generative AI.
- The Japanese group had until’ then adopted a surprisingly shy stance on the subject.
- SoftBank now wishes to establish itself as a world leader in this area through the development of a solid infrastructure to run very advanced LLM languages – as well as strategic acquisitions which should be carried out in the medium term.
- The group is also banking on the intersection of AI with technologies such as 5G or 6G.
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