SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is raising $100 billion to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) chip company that can compete fully with NVIDIA and hopes to complement Arm in business.。

It is reported that the project code-named "Izanagi," from the Japanese mythology of the creation god, also contains the English initials of general artificial intelligence (AGI), aimed at providing core chip products for global AI development, the project operation is directly led by Masayoshi Son.。

In terms of funding, SoftBank initially plans to inject $30 billion into the project, with another $70 billion likely to come from Middle Eastern institutions, but details have yet to be determined.。If the fundraising is successful, the project will be one of the largest investments in AI since the advent of ChatGPT, far surpassing Microsoft's total investment in OpenAI of about $13 billion in recent years.。

The investment comes as SoftBank returns to profitability after the epidemic, and the group is known for its tech investments, but has never bet on a startup on such a scale before。The project marks a strategic shift in SoftBank's investment, and the group will focus on the AI revolution in the future, benefiting various fields such as transportation, healthcare and finance through strategic investment in AI technology.。

During the epidemic, due to rising interest rates and weak investor risk appetite, SoftBank has adopted a conservative investment strategy due to the plunge in valuations; and recently, SoftBank has returned to profitability after five quarters of "severe winter" due to its portfolio performance recovery, and the group is also using its healthy financial position and strategic resources to return to cutting-edge areas such as AI and chip manufacturing.。

2024 may be the first year of the AI chip war。Right now, Nvidia has almost monopolized the AI chip market with an 80% market share, and tech giants such as Microsoft, Meta, Google, AMD, and Intel are catching up.。

After suffering a series of setbacks in his investment, Son is focusing on Arm, hoping to strengthen its influence in the AI market with the best investment philosophy and strategy, and is also exploring different types of next-generation chips, according to people familiar with the matter.。As a result of the global stock market rally, as of December 31, 2023, SoftBank had up to 6.2 trillion yen ($41 billion) in cash and cash equivalents。

According to the London Stock Exchange (LSEG), SoftBank now owns about 90% of Arm.。Group CFO Yoshimitsu Goto has said Arm is "at the heart of the core" of SoftBank's portfolio and will soon be one of the giants in the AI space.。

Meanwhile, SoftBank has been exploring Arm's approach to chip design, and Arm CEO Rene Haas is advising on the project。He said that under the trend of "Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)" based on user instructions to generate text, images and voice, the global demand for AI computing power has surged, and Nvidia H100 AI chips have been in short supply, while Arm's processors are a good addition, which coincides with the strong demand in the market.。

Earlier, it was reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had discussed with Son about the cooperation and financing of the semiconductor manufacturing business, but now it can be seen that the Izanagi project did not match its expectations.。Last week, media reports said Sam Altman was in talks with UAE investors over trillions of dollars in financing to boost global chip manufacturing capacity, pointing to AI's "chip pain points."。

In addition, Son also tried to invest in another company that developed a basic AI model and asked the company's management for help in the chip business, but the other party refused.。

Son's passion for AGI has never changed over the years。He said: "AGI is the pursuit of every AI expert, but when asked about the detailed definition of AGI, numbers, time, computing power, how much smarter than humans, most people have no answer, and I firmly believe that AGI will become a reality in 10 years.。"

On February 16, local time, OpenAI's first Wensheng video model, Sora, was born, which can understand and interact closely with real-world scenes through AI, which is an important step towards the realization of AGI.。With the continuous advancement of global AI technology, SoftBank's move may set off a new competitive trend in the AI field, which is expected to bring more opportunities for the group's future development.。