Latest news with #MasayoshiSon
Yahoo
43 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
SoftBank's $1 Trillion AI Gamble: Masayoshi Son's Boldest Bet Yet Lands in Arizona
SoftBank (SFBQF) is teeing up what could be its boldest swing yet a potential trillion-dollar AI and robotics complex in Arizona, dubbed Project Crystal Land. Masayoshi Son, never one to think small, is reportedly courting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Samsung as potential partners in the venture. The goal? A next-gen industrial park modeled after China's Shenzhen, bringing advanced manufacturing of AI-powered robots back onto American soil. Whether TSMC bites is uncertain it already has a $165 billion roadmap in the U.S. and just fired up mass production at its first Arizona plant but SoftBank appears undeterred. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 8 Warning Signs with SFBQF. Son has also been in conversations with U.S. federal and state officials, aiming to secure tax breaks to lure companies into the park. Sources say he's personally approached executives at Samsung and is lining up SoftBank Vision Fund-backed startups, including robotics player Agile Robots, as potential tenants. The financing model being floated is project-based think oil pipeline-style funding minimizing SoftBank's upfront capital requirements. The Arizona play comes on top of other major moves: a $30 billion planned investment into OpenAI, a $6.5 billion Ampere Computing deal, and SoftBank's role in Stargate, a moonshot partnership with OpenAI, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi's MGX. But ambition doesn't equal execution. While Son has $23 billion in cash and recently freed up another $4.8 billion by selling part of SoftBank's T-Mobile US stake, this plan would need serious external capital and buy-in from major tech players to come to life. Analysts say it could trigger aggressive follow-on investments if the pieces fall into place. He's a long-term thinker, and he takes risks, said Visible Alpha's Melissa Otto. It's just too early to tell. Investors who've been waiting for SoftBank's stock to reclaim its dot-com era highs may view this as another moonshot one with trillion-dollar ambition but a reality still very much under construction. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Masayoshi & TSMC, GMS, Darden Restaurants: Trending Tickers
SoftBank (9434.T) CEO Masayoshi Son reportedly pitched a $1 trillion artificial intelligence (AI)– and robotics-focused industrial complex in Arizona to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), according to reports from Bloomberg. GMS (GMS) is facing a potential hostile takeover with QXO (QXO) and Home Depot (HD) among the possible companies interested. Darden Restaurants (DRI) stock is in focus after reporting fourth quarter earnings results that beat expectations. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son pitches $1 trillion US AI hub to TSMC and Trump team: Report
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is envisaging setting up a $1 trillion industrial complex in Arizona that will build robots and artificial intelligence, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Son is seeking to team up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co for the project, which is aimed at bringing back high-end tech manufacturing to the US and to create a version of China's vast manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, the report said. SoftBank officials have spoken with US federal and state government officials to discuss possible tax breaks for companies building factories or otherwise investing in the industrial park, including talks with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the report said. SoftBank is keen to have TSMC involved in the project, codenamed Project Crystal Land, but it is not clear in what capacity, the report said. It is also not clear the Taiwanese company would be interested, it said. TSMC is already building chipmaking factories in the US with a planned investment of $165 billion. Son is also sounding out interest among tech companies including Samsung Electronics, the report said. The plans are preliminary and feasibility depends on support from the Trump administration and state officials, it said. A commitment of $1 trillion would be double that of the $500 billion "Stargate" project which seeks to build out data centre capacity across the US, with funding from SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle . SoftBank and TSMC declined to comment. The White House and US Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The proposed scheme follows a series of big investment announcements SoftBank has made this year. In March it announced it would acquire US semiconductor design company Ampere for $6.5 billion and in April said it would underwrite up to $40 billion of new investment in OpenAI, of which up to $10 billion would be syndicated to other investors. This week SoftBank raised $4.8 billion from a sale of shares in T-Mobile.
Business Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Masayoshi Son pitches US$1 trillion US AI hub to TSMC, Trump team
[TOKYO] SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to team up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to realise what could be his biggest bet yet – a trillion-dollar industrial complex in Arizona to build robots and artificial intelligence. Son envisions a version of the vast manufacturing hub of China's Shenzhen that would bring back high-tech manufacturing to the US, according to people familiar with the billionaire's thinking. The park may comprise production lines for AI-powered industrial robots, they said, asking not to be named as the plan remains private. SoftBank officials are keen to have the Taiwanese maker of Nvidia's advanced AI chips play a prominent role in the project, although it's not clear what part Son sees for TSMC, which already plans to invest US$165 billion in the US and has started mass production at its first Arizona factory. Nor is it clear that TSMC would be interested. A person familiar with the chipmaker's thinking said that SoftBank's project has no bearing on TSMC's plans in Phoenix. Codenamed 'Project Crystal Land,' the Arizona complex represents the 67-year-old SoftBank chief's most ambitious attempt in a career that's spanned numerous bet-the-house bids, thousands-fold-returns and billions of dollars in losses. Son, who's often expressed disappointment in his own legacy, has repeatedly said he means to do everything he can to hurry AI development. SoftBank officials have spoken with federal and state government officials to discuss possible tax breaks for companies building factories or otherwise investing in the industrial park, including talks with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the people said. The Japanese billionaire is also personally sounding out interest among an array of tech companies, they said. The project has been floated to executives at South Korea's Samsung Electronics, they said. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Shares of SoftBank rose 2.7 per cent on Friday. TSMC's stock price rose 1.9 per cent, while Samsung's gained 0.5 per cent. Representatives of SoftBank, TSMC and Samsung declined to comment. A Commerce Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. SoftBank's attempts to get businesses investing in a US industrial park follow signs that its campaign alongside ChatGPT maker OpenAI to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for US data centres is moving slower than initially expected. Crystal Land would need to address crucial details, such as whether there's demand and funding on par with its grandiose scale, to become reality. Son has pulled together a list of SoftBank Vision Fund portfolio companies that might take part in the Arizona manufacturing hub, the people said. SoftBank-backed startups working on robotics and automation technologies – such as Agile Robots – may set up production facilities at the industrial complex, they said. The plans are preliminary and feasibility hinges on support from the Trump administration and state officials. While the cost of the project as envisioned by Son may require as much as US$1 trillion to execute – a sum previously reported by the Nikkei – the actual scale depends on interest from big technology companies. If successful, Son has floated building multiple cutting-edge industrial parks across the US. SoftBank is exploring the Arizona project as it also moves forward on plans to invest as much as US$30 billion into OpenAI and plans a US$6.5 billion acquisition of Ampere Computing. It's also seeding money into the Stargate venture with OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi's MGX, although it aims to get the bulk of the money for building data centres around the world from outside investors. Those outlays come as SoftBank's cash stood at 3.4 trillion yen(S$30 billion) at the end of March. The Tokyo-based company has since tapped its T-Mobile US stake, selling roughly a quarter of what it held in March to raise US$4.8 billion this month. SoftBank also has net assets valued at 25.7 trillion yen, of which chip designer Arm Holdings makes the single largest portion, allowing it to borrow billions more as needed. SoftBank's exploring project financing for Stargate data centres, a model that could be adapted to a big endeavour like Crystal Land. Common for large-scale infrastructure like oil or gas pipelines, the project finance template would allow the tech investor to raise funding on a project-by-project basis and require less money upfront. Son's restless search for growth has resulted in projects that proceed in fits and starts, making it difficult to gauge how committed he is to any one venture. The billionaire is often goaded by the desire to boost SoftBank's stock price and repay retail investors who've held onto the company's shares from before the dot-com boom and bust, people close to the SoftBank chief have said. Many investors have waited for decades for the stock to regain dot-com bubble levels – something it's flirted with only a few times since 2020. If Son's primary motivation is to clear the way for AI, it may be more cost-efficient to encourage partnerships that link manufacturing expertise with that of AI engineers and specialists in fields from medicine to robotics, and incubating smaller companies, according to Melissa Otto, head of research at Visible Alpha. But pouring cash into data centres may help lower the cost of developing AI applications and spur broader adoption, she said. 'He's a long-term thinker, and he takes risks,' Otto said. 'It's just too early to tell.' BLOOMBERG
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- Japan Times
Masayoshi Son pitches $1 trillion U.S. AI hub to TSMC and Trump team
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to team up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to realize what could be his biggest bet yet — a trillion-dollar industrial complex in Arizona to build robots and artificial intelligence. Son envisions a version of the vast manufacturing hub of China's Shenzhen that would bring back high-tech manufacturing to the U.S., according to people familiar with the billionaire's thinking. The park may comprise production lines for AI-powered industrial robots, they said, asking not to be named as the plan remains private. SoftBank officials are keen to have the Taiwanese maker of Nvidia's advanced AI chips play a prominent role in the project, although it's not clear what part Son sees for TSMC, which already plans to invest $165 billion in the U.S. and has started mass production at its first Arizona factory. Nor is it clear that TSMC would be interested. A person familiar with the chipmaker's thinking said that SoftBank's project has no bearing on TSMC's plans in Phoenix. Codenamed "Project Crystal Land,' the Arizona complex represents the 67-year-old SoftBank chief's most ambitious attempt in a career that's spanned numerous bet-the-house bids, thousands-fold-returns and billions of dollars in losses. Son, who's often expressed disappointment in his own legacy, has repeatedly said he means to do everything he can to hurry AI development. SoftBank officials have spoken with U.S. federal and state government officials to discuss possible tax breaks for companies building factories or otherwise investing in the industrial park, including talks with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, the people said. The Japanese billionaire is also personally sounding out interest among an array of tech companies, they said. The project has been floated to executives at South Korea's Samsung Electronics, they said. Shares of SoftBank rose 2.7% Friday. TSMC's stock price rose 1.9%, while Samsung's gained 0.5%. Representatives of SoftBank, TSMC and Samsung declined to comment. A Commerce Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. SoftBank's attempts to get businesses investing in a U.S. industrial park follow signs that its campaign alongside ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to raise hundreds of billions of dollars for U.S. data centers is moving slower than initially expected. Crystal Land would need to address crucial details, such as whether there's demand and funding on par with its grandiose scale, to become reality. Son has pulled together a list of SoftBank Vision Fund portfolio companies that might take part in the Arizona manufacturing hub, the people said. SoftBank-backed startups working on robotics and automation technologies — such as Agile Robots — may set up production facilities at the industrial complex, they said. The plans are preliminary and feasibility hinges on support from the White House and state officials. While the cost of the project as envisioned by Son may require as much as $1 trillion to execute — a sum previously reported by the Nikkei — the actual scale depends on interest from big technology companies. If successful, Son has floated building multiple cutting-edge industrial parks across the U.S. SoftBank is exploring the Arizona project as it also moves forward on plans to invest as much as $30 billion into OpenAI and plans a $6.5 billion acquisition of Ampere Computing. It's also seeding money into the Stargate venture with OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi's MGX, although it aims to get the bulk of the money for building data centers around the world from outside investors. Those outlays come as SoftBank's cash stood at ¥3.4 trillion ($23 billion) at the end of March. The Tokyo-based company has since tapped its T-Mobile U.S. stake, selling roughly a quarter of what it held in March to raise $4.8 billion this month. SoftBank also has net assets valued at ¥25.7 trillion, of which chip designer Arm Holdings makes the single largest portion, allowing it to borrow billions more as needed. SoftBank is exploring project financing for Stargate data centers, a model that could be adapted to a big endeavor like Crystal Land. Common for large-scale infrastructure like oil or gas pipelines, the project finance template would allow the tech investor to raise funding on a project-by-project basis and require less money upfront. Son's restless search for growth has resulted in projects that proceed in fits and starts, making it difficult to gauge how committed he is to any one venture. The billionaire is often goaded by the desire to boost SoftBank's stock price and repay retail investors who've held onto the company's shares from before the dot-com boom and bust, people close to the SoftBank chief have said. Many investors have waited for decades for the stock to regain dot-com bubble levels — something it's flirted with only a few times since 2020. If Son's primary motivation is to clear the way for AI, it may be more cost-efficient to encourage partnerships that link manufacturing expertise with that of AI engineers and specialists in fields from medicine to robotics, and incubating smaller companies, according to Melissa Otto, head of research at Visible Alpha. But pouring cash into data centers may help lower the cost of developing AI applications and spur broader adoption, she said. "He's a long-term thinker, and he takes risks,' Otto said. "It's just too early to tell.'
