SoftBank seeks $100B from Gulf investors for AI

SoftBank Group is seeking to raise as much as $100 billion from Gulf investors to finance a new wave of artificial intelligence investments, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Founder Masayoshi Son has held preliminary discussions in recent weeks with senior figures, including in the United Arab Emirates, about the potential fundraising, which would support a fund to acquire companies and improve their operations using AI and advanced technologies.

The Japanese investment conglomerate plans to use the proposed fund to deploy AI systems and robotics to make businesses more efficient. The announcement comes as SoftBank continues to expand its exposure to the AI sector, with massive commitments already made to leading AI companies.

The fundraising effort comes as SoftBank deepens its commitment to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, having completed a $30 billion investment in the company as part of its latest funding round. SoftBank also raised $11.1 billion through a high-yield bond sale in September to help finance its OpenAI investment. SoftBank shares dropped as much as 7.3% in Tokyo on Friday, weighed by concerns over the pace of OpenAI's revenue growth.

Son previously secured nearly $100 billion in commitments for SoftBank's first Vision Fund in 2017, with substantial backing from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala. That fund produced mixed results, backing successful businesses such as ByteDance while suffering high-profile failures, including WeWork.