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SoftBank's founder and chief executive, Masayoshi Son, is
looking to invest tens of billions of dollars in AI, the
newspaper said, citing two people familiar with Son's thinking.
Son said in June that his tech investing conglomerate planned to
shift its stance to "offence mode" amid excitement over advances
in AI.
The Japanese tech investment company could also look to strike a
broad strategic partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, FT said.
Son has expressed excitement about AI technology, adding he is a
"heavy user" of ChatGPT, the AI-powered chatbot from
Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI. He has also said that he speaks
"almost everyday" to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
SoftBank is looking at a range of alternatives to OpenAI as
well, including a preliminary approach to buy Graphcore, a
UK-based AI chipmaker, the report added.
In an emailed response to Reuters, Graphcore denied there was an
attempt or offer from SoftBank to buy the company.
SoftBank and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Chip designer Arm secured a $54.5 billion valuation in its U.S.
initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday, seven years after
SoftBank took the company private for $32 billion.
In August, SoftBank posted a surprise loss but said it was
dipping its toes back into new investments after its Vision Fund
returned to the black for the first time in six quarters.
The investment giant has been in "defence mode" since May 2022
after tech valuations crashed due to sharply higher interest
rates and jitters that hit the global banking sector.
(Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Additional reporting
by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by William Mallard and
Mark Potter)
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