Japanese Media: "SoftBank Son Jeong-ui's AI Business Plan... Targeting 88 Trillion Won Investment"

Considering Business Separation and Group Integration After Developing AI Semiconductors Using Arm Technology

Masayoshi Son (Son Masayoshi in Japanese), chairman of Japan's SoftBank Group, which has been shifting its core business in line with technological changes, is planning business preparations to respond to the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, with investments expected to reach up to 10 trillion yen (approximately 88 trillion won), according to a report by Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 12th.

One of Chairman Son's key plans is the development of AI-dedicated semiconductors, aiming to produce prototypes in spring 2025 in a fabless format (a semiconductor design company) like the US-based Nvidia, and establish mass production systems by the fall of the same year.

In this regard, SoftBank is considering creating a new organization within Arm, a UK semiconductor design company in which it holds about 90% of the shares. Arm is a company that already provides circuit designs necessary for semiconductor development to companies such as Nvidia.

The development of AI-dedicated semiconductors will be funded by Arm's capital and SoftBank Group's support funds, and after the mass production system is established, there is also consideration to separate this business division from Arm and place it under the group.

The manufacturing of AI-dedicated semiconductors is planned to be entrusted to Taiwan's TSMC and others.

Chairman Son's plan goes beyond simply developing AI-dedicated semiconductors and includes building data centers based on self-developed semiconductors in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East after 2026.

For the series of investments to expand the AI business, it is reported by Nikkei that SoftBank aims to invest trillions of yen of its own capital and raise additional funds from government funds of Middle Eastern countries, targeting a total investment scale of 10 trillion yen.

The newspaper introduced that SoftBank Group shifted its core business in line with technological changes, developing internet-based businesses in the 1990s, focusing on mobile businesses in the late 2000s, and concentrating on investment businesses since the launch of the Vision Fund in 2017, and going forward, AI will be its focus.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.