TOPIC

/ company

Softbank

SoftBank is a Japanese telecommunications and internet company with operations spanning broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-commerce, the internet, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses.<br />

Chairman / President

Masayoshi Son

CEO / Managing Director

Masayoshi Son

CFO / Finance Director

Yoshimitsu Goto

Industry

Conglomerate

Website

softbank.jp

Headquarters address

SoftBank Group Corp.,1-9-1 Higashi-Shimbashi,Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-7303,Japan

Stock Code

TSE:9984

Year founded

1981

Kawasaki’s humanoid robot Kaleido takes out the rubbish as crowds watch during the IREX show in Tokyo. Photo: Wency Chen

Robotics

Why Japan’s robotic pioneers are ceding the humanoid stage to China and the US

Japan’s university system has long centred on engineering faculties led by manufacturing, resulting in a relative shortage of AI talent.

14 Dec 2025 - 2:03PM

Foxconn

Taiwan’s Foxconn expands AI hardware push with OpenAI deal

21 Nov 2025 - 2:52PM

Nvidia

Nvidia’s latest earnings run into a market suddenly afraid of AI spending

19 Nov 2025 - 2:36PM

Artificial intelligence

SoftBank shares dive after Nvidia sale spooks AI-wary market

‘I can’t say if we’re in an AI bubble or not,’ SoftBank’s finance chief says, adding that the sale is a necessary financing measure.

12 Nov 2025 - 10:10AM

A SoftBank store in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district. Photo: AP

Semiconductors

Intel beats 3rd-quarter profit estimates as cost cuts, investments pay off

Intel forecast current-quarter revenue between US$12.8 billion and US$13.8 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of US$13.37 billion.

24 Oct 2025 - 11:32AM

US-China tech war

China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race

The AI war is increasingly waged among ‘hyperscalers’ – companies with full-stack capabilities across software, hardware and applications.

11 Oct 2025 - 12:05PMvideocam

Semiconductors

Intel unveils new chip in make-or-break moment for turnaround bid

The company needs to show that its new products will win back lost market share and attract customers to its foundry division.

10 Oct 2025 - 10:07AM

Intel has unveiled a new chip built on its 18A process. Photo: Reuters

Robotics

SoftBank strikes deal to acquire ABB’s robotics business for US$5.4 billion

The deal marks a significant push by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son into robotics, as he expands investment after a period of retrenchment.

8 Oct 2025 - 3:50PM

OpenAI

OpenAI valuation hits US$500 billion, passes SpaceX as world’s largest start-up

San Francisco-based OpenAI completes a deal to help employees sell about US$6.6 billion of the firm’s stock to investors.

2 Oct 2025 - 4:16PM

Artificial intelligence

OpenAI expands Stargate with 5 new data centre sites across US

The expansion brings the companies closer to their goal of investing US$500 billion in domestic data centres and AI infrastructure.

24 Sep 2025 - 11:14AM

The steel frame of data centres under construction at the OpenAI data centre in Abilene, Texas, September 23, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Pool

Semiconductors

Nvidia bets big on Intel with US$5 billion stake, chip partnership

The move comes just weeks after the White House engineered a deal for the US to take a 10 per cent stake in Intel.

19 Sep 2025 - 9:54AM

Nvidia said it will invest US5 billion in Intel. Photo: Reuters

United States

Trump says Intel has agreed to deal for US to take 10% equity stake

The move marks a clear change of direction just weeks after Trump called for CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign over his ties to Chinese firms.

23 Aug 2025 - 7:45AMvideocam

Artificial intelligence

OpenAI sees firm selling AI data centre services to offset ChatGPT costs

The start-up also generated US$1 billion in revenue in July, marking its first month hitting that milestone, finance chief Sarah Friar says.

21 Aug 2025 - 12:00PM

Intel

Chipmaker Intel’s US$24 billion rally sends valuation to dotcom levels

That surge comes on the back of reports that the US is eyeing a potential stake in Intel and SoftBank’s plans for a US$2 billion investment.

20 Aug 2025 - 4:01PM

An exterior view of the Robert Noyce Building at Intel Corp’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Photo: Shutterstock

Semiconductors

Japan’s SoftBank to invest US$2 billion in Intel as part of US push

SoftBank has been expanding its US footprint, including a recent deal to buy Foxconn’s electric vehicle plant in Ohio.

19 Aug 2025 - 9:43AM

Artificial intelligence

AI start-up Perplexity makes bold bid for Google’s Chrome browser

The US$34.5 billion unsolicited offer comes after OpenAI, Yahoo and Apollo Global Management have also expressed interest in Chrome.

13 Aug 2025 - 10:47AM

IPO

SoftBank selects banks for US IPO of payments app amid tech rebound

US IPO activity has gained momentum in a long-awaited rebound, supported by strong tech earnings and signs of progress in trade talks.

11 Aug 2025 - 10:31AM

OpenAI

OpenAI in talks for share sale at US$500 billion valuation, sources say

If the deal goes ahead, it would elevate OpenAI’s valuation on paper by two-thirds to US$500 billion, making it one of the world’s largest privately held companies.

6 Aug 2025 - 12:18PM

Artificial intelligence

Shanghai targets 5 new data centres as China boosts AI capacity

China’s computing power reached 246 exaflops as of June 2024, placing it second only to the US, according to government data.

5 Aug 2025 - 7:00PM

Semiconductors

SoftBank’s growing stakes in Nvidia and TSMC show focus on AI gear

Son eyes a more central role in the spread of AI with SoftBank’s access to some of the semiconductor supply chain’s most lucrative parts.

5 Aug 2025 - 5:07PM

Indonesia

Indonesia arrests founder of high-flying fish start-up over fraud scandal

An investigation revealed aquaculture start-up eFishery claimed revenues of over US$500 million more than its true earnings.

5 Aug 2025 - 2:24PM

Gibran Huzaifah, co-founder of eFishery, has admitted that he faked accounts. Photo: eFishery

Artificial intelligence

OpenAI to rent massive amount of computing power from Oracle

Totalling about 4.5 gigawatts, the unprecedented sum of energy could power millions of homes.

3 Jul 2025 - 11:45AM

Oracle and OpenAI are expanding their Stargate deal. Photo: AP

Artificial intelligence

A sun-baked ‘Shenzhen’? SoftBank pitches TSMC on US$1 trillion AI hub in Arizona

Son envisions a version of China’s manufacturing hub of Shenzhen that would bring high-tech manufacturing to the US, sources told Bloomberg.

20 Jun 2025 - 4:29PM

Artificial intelligence

Silicon Valley venture capitalists sit back from investing in AI

Amid sky-high valuations, even major venture capital firms can no longer compete with deep-pocketed backers like SoftBank and Microsoft.

2 Jun 2025 - 12:09PMvideocam

Semiconductors

Nvidia CEO blasts US AI chip restrictions on China as a ‘failure’

‘Power is quite cost-effective in China. And there’s plenty of land. And so the ban on H20 is not effective,’ Jensen Huang told reporters at Computex.

21 May 2025 - 4:13PMvideocam

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holds a circuit board as he answers questions from members of the media at a press event in Taipei on May 21. Photo: Reuters

E-commerce

China’s Meituan to bring Keeta food delivery to Brazil under US$1 billion deal

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva presided over the deal-signing event in Beijing.

13 May 2025 - 2:08PM

Meituan founder and CEO Wang Xing (left) meets Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Handout

Artificial intelligence

Elon Musk-Sam Altman fight over OpenAI overhaul set for March trial

A US federal judge called for an expedited trial on the ‘core’ claim from Musk’s 2024 lawsuit that OpenAI’s restructuring plan is unlawful.

5 Apr 2025 - 11:52AM

Artificial intelligence

OpenAI to build open AI model amid competition from Meta and DeepSeek

Announcement marks a strategic shift by OpenAI, which until now has been a fierce defender of closed, proprietary models.

1 Apr 2025 - 11:22AMvideocam

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