SoftBank Group Agrees to Lead $40 Billion Funding for OpenAI

The Wall Street Journal
01 Apr

SoftBank Group has agreed to lead a funding of up to $40 billion in a for-profit subsidiary of OpenAI, valuing the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion.

The Japanese technology investment company said Tuesday that the company planned to invest up to $30 billion in OpenAI Global and syndicate the remaining $10 billion to co-investors.

SoftBank Group said an initial investment of $10 billion was set to be paid in mid-April and the remaining financing of up to $30 billion was expected to be completed in December.

The Japanese company said it had decided to make additional investments in OpenAI to further support its growth and capture benefits.

In order to receive the full sum, OpenAI has to successfully restructure into an independent for-profit company by the end of the year, The Wall Street Journal has reported. If it doesn’t, SoftBank can pare back the funding round’s size to $20 billion.

OpenAI said the latest funding would help the company continue building artificial-intelligence systems that drive scientific discovery, enable personalized education and enhance human creativity.

SoftBank has invested $2.2 billion in OpenAI through SoftBank Vision Fund 2 since September.

In January, SoftBank Group and OpenAI announced a plan to invest up to half a trillion dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S., together with other partners such as Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. The joint venture, called Stargate, will build data centers for OpenAI.

SoftBank’s stock has dropped in recent weeks as tech shares sold off on Wall Street due partly to concerns about U.S. tariffs, inflation and high borrowing costs. The company reported a quarterly net loss for the three months ended December, in part because of the weakness in its technology funds business.

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