Masayoshi Son Goes All-in With 94 Trillion Won on OpenAI... Growing Concerns Over His 'AI Love' Ahead of Earnings Release

SoftBank to Hold Earnings Briefing Today
Invested 22.5 Billion Dollars in OpenAI Last Year
In Talks Over an Additional 30 Billion Dollar Capital Injection
M&A Plans Add to Financial Burden

Chairman Son Jeonghee of SoftBank Group Japan has put his "AI All-in" strategy to the test. As he unveils plans for a massive additional investment in, and mergers and acquisitions involving, U.S.-based OpenAI, attention is focused on whether he can dispel concerns over the enormous financial burden. Investors are closely watching SoftBank's earnings briefing scheduled for this afternoon.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on the 12th that "SoftBank Group's concentration of investment in OpenAI is deepening." SoftBank invested 22.5 billion dollars (32 trillion won) in OpenAI last year. It is furthermore in talks over an additional capital injection of 30 billion dollars (43 trillion won). The cumulative investment amount reaches 34.7 billion dollars (50 trillion won). If the additional capital injection goes through, it will have poured 10 trillion yen (94 trillion won) into a single company.

Son Jeonghee, Chairman of SoftBank Group Japan (left), and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, are shaking hands at an event in Tokyo in February last year. SoftBank is considering an additional investment of $30 billion in OpenAI. Tokyo (Japan) = Yonhap News Agency.

Nikkei pointed out that SoftBank experienced considerable strain in the process of raising the capital for this investment. Last year's investment funds were raised through loans secured by shares of its semiconductor design subsidiary Arm, the sale of its stake in Nvidia, and the issuance of corporate bonds. Using these methods, the company raised 36 billion dollars (52 trillion won) between April and November last year.

SoftBank is also eyeing other businesses, so its funding conditions are far from easy. Just this year, it is planning to acquire the robotics division of Swiss engineering company ABB and U.S. investment firm DigitalBridge. The scale of these acquisitions alone reaches 5 billion dollars (7 trillion won). In addition, 1.0974 trillion yen (10 trillion won) will be needed to redeem maturing corporate bonds.

There are also voices saying that an additional capital injection will not be easy. David Gibson, senior analyst at Australian market research firm Sandstone Insight, pointed out that "apart from asset sales or additional borrowing, there may be no sharp options available." SoftBank is reportedly considering taking out further loans secured by Arm shares, or loans secured by the OpenAI shares it already holds.

Chairman Son expects that once OpenAI goes public through an initial public offering (IPO), the value of its stake will surge. In June last year, he remarked that "ten years from now, the 600 trillion yen (5,669 trillion won) in profits generated by AI will be shared among many companies," outlining a vision to share profits through joint growth with OpenAI.

However, AI competition is becoming fiercer by the day. Alphabet, Google's parent company, will invest 185 billion dollars (267 trillion won) this year alone in the development of its "Gemini" model. Microsoft is also increasing its investment in Anthropic, a competitor to OpenAI. Nikkei reported that "if OpenAI falls behind in the development race, its IPO will be delayed, and dark clouds will gather over SoftBank's plans to recoup its investment."

This earnings announcement by SoftBank is drawing attention as to whether Chairman Son will be able to dispel such concerns. SoftBank will announce its financial results for the period from April to December 2025 at 3:30 p.m. today. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Yoshimitsu Goto will attend the briefing.

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