Masayoshi Son bets billions on US AI dominance through SoftBank and Stargate
SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son pledged up to $500 billion for the Stargate AI initiative and led a $40 billion funding round for OpenAI, positioning his conglomerate at the heart of the United States’ AI push.
At a Jan. 21 event in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, Masayoshi Son announced that SoftBank would underwrite the majority of funding for Stargate, a joint effort with OpenAI and Oracle intended to create a $500 billion network of AI data centers, power infrastructure and research facilities across the United States. Standing beside Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Son pledged $19 billion of the initial $52 billion commitment in exchange for a 40% stake.
In parallel, SoftBank is leading a $40 billion financing round for OpenAI that could value the company at $300 billion, potentially making SoftBank one of its largest shareholders. The profile juxtaposes this aggressive expansion with Son’s history of high-profile failures, such as the Vision Fund’s $27 billion loss and the WeWork write-down, while recalling earlier triumphs like the early Yahoo investment and the Alibaba stake that once topped $200 billion.
Recent developments, including China’s DeepSeek AI model that challenges assumptions about cost versus performance, are cited, yet Son maintains that spending trillions on AI infrastructure is warranted given its expected contribution to global GDP. The article paints Son as a resilient figure whose bold bets continually reshape SoftBank’s position in the tech landscape.
