SoftBank’s Son Seeks $100 Billion From Gulf Investors for AI Bets

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is looking to raise up to $100 billion from Gulf investors to finance his AI investments, The Financial Times reported.

Son has held fundraising discussions in recent weeks in the United Arab Emirates and other parts of the region, according to the FT. He plans to use the money to set up a fund that buys companies and uses AI and other advanced technology to improve their operations, FT reported.

Such a colossal fundraising would enable SoftBank to accelerate its AI investments, after pouring a total of $64.6 billion into OpenAI. While OpenAI is expected to go public as soon as next year, the exact timing remains unclear.

In July, at SoftBank’s annual conference, Son dismissed the idea that the current AI boom could be a bubble, and predicted that the continued development of AI would require $5 trillion in total annual investment worldwide by 2040.

Son has raised massive funds from the Middle East before. When he launched his first $100 billion Vision Fund for tech investments in 2017, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund committed $45 billion, while the UAE’s Mubadala contributed $15 billion.