Softbank relies on NVIDIA: billions in investments in AI planned

Softbank relies on NVIDIA: billions in investments in AI planned

The partnership between the Japanese financial investor Softbank and the chip company NVIDIA is being expanded to include an additional chapter. Softbank has ambitious plans to become a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) and plans to invest 150 billion yen. A report by Japanese business newspaper Nikkei reveals that Softbank plans to invest nearly $1 billion in data center optimization and the development of Japanese language AI. The computing capacity will be strengthened using technology from NVIDIA, which will provide the necessary graphics processors.

With this significant investment, Softbank significantly complements its previous spending on computing infrastructure and aims to have the most powerful data centers in Japan upon completion. In an interesting twist, Softbank appears to have already pursued plans to launch its own NVIDIA rival called “Izanagi”. This chip company is intended to serve as a complement to the chip designer Arm, in which Softbank is the majority owner.

NVIDIA shares have seen significant growth recently, particularly due to its dominant position in the AI ​​space. The acquired partnership with Softbank as a major customer for generative AI services and products in Japan is expected to continue to contribute to NVIDIA's success. It is interesting to note that Softbank also previously held shares in NVIDIA, but completely divested itself of these shares in 2019 and was therefore unable to benefit from their increase in value.