Masayoshi Son, the chairman of SoftBank Group, dismissed claims of an “AI bubble” posited by some, saying, “Those who talk about an AI bubble are not smart.” According to Bloomberg, Son made these remarks at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Asia Forum, an international finance conference held in Tokyo, Japan, on December 1.
He stated, “With the advent of physical AI, AI will account for 10% of the global GDP in the long term, generating 20 trillion dollars annually,” and questioned, “Where is the bubble when the massive investment costs are more than offset?”
Regarding the recent sale of SoftBank’s entire stake in Nvidia, he explained that it was necessary to secure funds for investments in OpenAI and next-generation AI infrastructure. Japanese SoftBank Group led by Son sold its entire stake in Nvidia (32.1 million shares) for $5.83 billion (8.5 trillion KRW) last month (November).
He elaborated that SoftBank was compelled to sell its Nvidia shares to finance several major AI projects, including the ‘Stargate’ data center construction, additional investment in OpenAI planned for later this year, and the acquisition of Ampere, a semiconductor design company for Arm-based servers.
Son added, “If I had unlimited funds, I wouldn’t have sold even a single share,” and admitted, “I cried while selling Nvidia shares.”
The event was organized under the leadership of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, the largest contributor to the Vision Fund with a $45 billion contribution. The event was attended by Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s Prime Minister, among others.