SoftBank Group has sold its entire holding in Nvidia, which ended its connection with the US chipmaker that helped drive the recent rise in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.
The Japanese company is currently focusing on OpenAI even as it deals with financial losses and questions about its leadership.
In a report released on November 11, SoftBank said it and one of its asset management units “sold all of Nvidia Corporation shares that they had owned, for $5.83 billion”.
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To raise the money, SoftBank issued ¥620 billion (about $4.1 billion) in yen-denominated bonds, another $4.2 billion in foreign debt, and secured short-term loans worth $8.5 billion for OpenAI and $6.5 billion for ABB Robotics.
Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto explained during a press briefing that the company relied on its existing assets to support the new investment.
The company’s filing shows that an agreement was made on March 31 to invest up to $40 billion in OpenAI. Of that, $30 billion would come from SoftBank’s funds. It has already provided $10 billion in April, with an additional $22.5 billion expected in December.
SoftBank also announced plans involving ABB Robotics as part of its strategy to advance AI technology. The company said these steps align with its long-term mission to “realize artificial super intelligence (ASI) for the advancement of humanity”.
Recently, Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed a $38 billion agreement with OpenAI. What is the goal of the deal? Read the full story.
