SoftBank is in discussions to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, a move that could make it the company’s largest investor. According to a source familiar with the matter, the deal has not been finalized. The Financial Times was the first to report on SoftBank’s potential investment.

In November 2024, OpenAI allowed employees to sell approximately $1.5 billion worth of shares in a tender offer to SoftBank. One source revealed that SoftBank’s founder, Masayoshi Son, had been persistent in seeking a larger stake in OpenAI, following his $500 million investment in the company’s previous funding round.

Meanwhile, SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle are collaborating on a joint project named Stargate, which was introduced by President Donald Trump at the White House last week. This initiative aims to invest billions of dollars into U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

OpenAI, originally established as a nonprofit in 2015, is transitioning into a for-profit structure. The organization is creating a public benefit corporation to oversee commercial operations, lifting some nonprofit restrictions and allowing it to function like a high-growth tech startup. This shift is essential for OpenAI as it seeks more capital and computing power to compete in the rapidly expanding AI industry, which analysts estimate could reach $1 trillion within a decade.

OpenAI is currently valued at $157 billion, based on private investor assessments. The company gained global attention in late 2022 when it launched ChatGPT, triggering a surge in generative AI development. In October 2024, OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round as it positioned itself to compete aggressively with Elon Musk’s xAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Anthropic.

At the same time, competition in the AI sector is intensifying, particularly with the rise of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup that has rapidly gained traction in the U.S. DeepSeek’s app recently topped the Apple App Store rankings, sparking reactions in U.S. tech markets. Reports indicate that DeepSeek’s model was trained at a fraction of the cost of its American counterparts.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged DeepSeek’s emergence, calling its R1 model “impressive.” In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he stated, “We will obviously deliver much better models, and also, it’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor!”

As of now, SoftBank has not issued an official statement regarding its investment discussions with OpenAI.

PHOTO: KAOHOONINTERNASIONAL

This article was created with AI assistance.