SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is looking for $100 billion to finance a chipmaking company for artificial intelligence systems and compete with Nvidia.
The project, codenamed Izanagi, marks the billionaire’s next big venture as SoftBank drastically cuts back on investments in startups. Son plans to create a company that will complement Arm Holdings’ chip development division and allow it to build a factory for the production of chips for artificial intelligence. This is reported by knowledgeable sources. Under one of the scenarios under consideration, SoftBank will provide $30 billion, and the remaining $70 billion may come from institutions in the Middle East.
If successful, this project will become one of the largest investments in artificial intelligence since ChatGPT, surpassing the recent Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI of more than $10 billion. Son named the project after Izanagi, the Japanese god of creation and life, in part because it contains the initials of general artificial intelligence.
Details on how the project will be funded or where the money will be spent have yet to be determined. Sources say that Son is constantly developing numerous investment ideas and strategies to strengthen Arm’s access to the AI market, and is constantly exploring different types of next-generation chips. It is unclear which company or companies will play a central role in developing the technology needed to challenge Nvidia, undoubtedly the leader in high-end AI accelerators.
Source: bloomberg