SoftBank Group is in active negotiations to invest an additional $30 billion in OpenAI.
The proposed deal marks a significant escalation in SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s aggressive pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI) dominance and could anchor a massive $100 billion funding round for the ChatGPT creator, according to a Wall Street Journal report, citing sources familiar with the matter.
If the funding round is fully realized, OpenAI’s valuation could soar to approximately $830 billion. That would represent a meteoric rise for a company valued at just $29 billion in early 2023, reflecting the intense capital requirements and investor appetite surrounding the race for artificial general intelligence (AGI).
While final terms of the $30 billion investment are still being negotiated and subject to change, the scale of the proposal underscores a transformative moment for the tech industry, where the quest for AGI is being fueled by unprecedented levels of private capital.
The move signals a “double down” strategy for SoftBank, which already holds a roughly 11% stake in OpenAI following a $41 billion investment completed in December 2025. To fuel these high-stakes bets, SoftBank has restructured its portfolio, notably divesting its entire $5.8 billion stake in chipmaking giant NVIDIA Corp. The shift highlights a conviction that the long-term value of the AI revolution will ultimately settle in the software and application layer rather than hardware alone.
“At this scale, capital is a proxy for confidence in AI as a system-level platform shift. SoftBank has historically invested where it sees technology reshaping entire value chains, and this move reflects a belief that AI will sit at the center of future software creation, automation, and decision-making,” said Mitch Ashley, vice president and practice lead, Software Lifecycle Engineering, at The Futurum Group. “The implication for enterprises? AI model and platform providers with the capital to invest in compute, talent, and platform depth will shape the pace and structure of adoption, while customers will increasingly need to evaluate AI partners as long-term strategic dependencies, not interchangeable tools.”
SoftBank’s Son has been vocal about his singular focus on AI. Late last year, Son emphasized that the group is “deeply aligned with OpenAI’s vision,” positioning the conglomerate as a central pillar in global AI infrastructure.
Beyond software, SoftBank’s 2025 activity included the $4 billion acquisition of DigitalBridge and participation in Stargate Project, a major AI infrastructure initiative.
Despite reporting annualized revenue of more than $20 billion last year, OpenAI remains unprofitable. The costs associated with training increasingly complex large language models (LLMs) and maintaining the massive compute power required for daily operations continue to outpace income.
To bridge this gap, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is reportedly courting a diverse pool of investors. In addition to SoftBank, industry titans Amazon.com Inc. and NVIDIA are rumored to be in discussions to join the current round, according to CNBC. Those partnerships are critical as OpenAI navigates its complex relationship with Microsoft Corp., which remains its primary strategic partner and provider of cloud distribution via Azure.
Investors cheered the prospect of SoftBank tightening its grip on the AI sector. Following the reports, SoftBank shares rose 3.7% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
