SoftBank Goes All In on OpenAI, Cashes Out Entire NVIDIA Stake

SoftBank Group recently reported a consolidated net income of ¥3.32 trillion (~$22.1 billion) for the six months ended September 30, up 168% from the previous year, according to its latest financial report. 

According to the company’s consolidated financial report, the increase was primarily driven by investment gains from OpenAI and share sales in companies such as NVIDIA and T-Mobile.

The company reported that income before tax increased 152% year-over-year to ¥3.69 trillion, with total investment gains reaching ¥3.93 trillion (~$26.2 billion). 

SoftBank confirmed it will invest up to $40 billion in OpenAI through the SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (SVF2), with an effective investment of $30 billion after syndicating $10 billion to co-investors. The first $10 billion closing was completed in April, followed by a planned $30 billion second closing in December this year.

Moreover, SoftBank announced a joint venture, SB OAI Japan, with OpenAI on November 5. This initiative was formed to provide what the company called ‘Crystal intelligence’, which will transform the corporate management and operational practices of Japan’s enterprises through the use of AI.

SoftBank’s earnings reflect CEO Masayoshi Son’s renewed push into AI infrastructure, positioning the group as a key player in global AI development. The company is reinforcing its long-term AI strategy while using its Arm and Vision Fund assets to secure new financing.

AI Bets and Asset Sales

SoftBank continued to monetise assets to fund its investment drive. Between June and October, SoftBank raised roughly $17 billion from selling shares in T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom and NVIDIA, including the latter’s entire stake worth $5.83 billion.

The company issued domestic and foreign bonds totalling over ¥1 trillion (~$6.67 billion) and secured bridge loans of $15 billion for its OpenAI and Ampere acquisitions.

SoftBank’s results underscore its ongoing shift towards AI-driven investments and high-value asset realignment. With record profits and strategic sales completed, the group appears poised to deepen its technology exposure ahead of 2026.

To support its aggressive investment strategy, the company also expanded its margin loan facility, backed by Arm shares, from $13.5 billion to $20 billion last month, with $11.5 billion still undrawn as of November 11.

SoftBank also announced two major acquisitions aimed at strengthening its AI and semiconductor portfolios. 

It entered into an agreement on March 19 to acquire Ampere Computing Holdings LLC, a US-based semiconductor design firm specialising in AI compute on the Arm platform, for $6.5 billion. The approved deal is expected to close by the end of this year, making Ampere a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

That apart, on October 8, SoftBank signed a definitive agreement with ABB to acquire its robotics business for $5.375 billion. The transaction is expected to close in mid to late 2026, pending regulatory approvals in the US, EU and China.

The ‘AI Bubble’ Enters the Frame

As SoftBank pivots heavily into AI, the broader question of an “AI bubble” has gained traction among investors and industry watchers. Some argue that parallels with the dot-com boom of the late 1990s are emerging, including lofty valuations, heavy capital spending and nascent business models. 

During a Bloomberg interview, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, rejected the notion that we’re in a bubble.

He mentioned that this was due to a natural transition from an old computing model to accelerated computing. He believes that AI has become “good enough” because of its reasoning, research and thinking capabilities, which are generating tokens that are worth paying for.

“All of these different AI models we’re using, we’re using plenty of services [provided by the models] and paying happily to do it.”

In a recent roundtable discussion with the Financial Times, Huang explained why he believes today’s AI boom differs from the dot-com frenzy of the late 1990s. This referred to a time when investors rushed to pour money into internet startups at the mere mention of the ‘World Wide Web’, inflating valuations far beyond their actual worth. When the bubble burst, most of those companies vanished, leaving only a handful of survivors, like Amazon, to define the next era of tech.

Huang believes the AI boom is not like the dot-com boom because back then, the majority of the fibre was “dark”, meaning unused. Today, nearly “every GPU you can find is lit up and used.” 

A Wave of Sell-Offs

On the contrary, Michael Burry, the investor famed for his bet against the US housing market ahead of the 2008 crash, has signalled that the AI-driven surge may be heading for a reckoning. 

His hedge-fund firm, Scion Asset Management, disclosed put options on approximately one million shares of NVIDIA (~$187 million) and around five million shares of Palantir Technologies (~$912 million) in the third quarter.

This move led many market watchers to speculate whether the broader AI ecosystem and heavyweights like NVIDIA would be at risk.

Chevy Chase Trust trimmed its NVIDIA stake by 1.3 lakh shares on Tuesday, reducing its holding to 1.6 crore shares, valued at roughly $2.543 billion, and making up about 7.4% of the fund’s portfolio. 

Other investors, such as Dale Q Rice Investment Management and Private Trust Co. NA, are also adjusting holdings.

The logic underpinning Burry’s stance appears grounded in valuation fatigue and structural risk. NVIDIA’s dominant role in AI infrastructure, rising capital expenditure on AI platforms, and spiralling valuations have prompted questions. 

For investors and firms like SoftBank, which has already sold its entire NVIDIA stake, Burry’s actions add a cautionary voice to what has been an otherwise bullish AI narrative.

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