SoftBank $9984 (-1,64%) now wants to take over the entire $40 billion financing round itself 🤝🏼

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/07/softbank-set-to-invest-40-billion-in-openai-at-260-billion-valuation-sources-say.html

OpenAI and SoftBank $9984 (-1,64%) establish the joint venture "SB Open AI Japan". This new company will be a subsidiary of the SoftBank Group and the shares will be split 50/50. Existing and new products from OpenAI, including the AI assistant "Operator" and the new "Deep Research" function, will be bundled in Japan under the name "Crystal Intelligence" exclusively marketed in Japan.

SoftBank will invest 3 billion $in the rights to OpenAI's technology, among other things, and will also employ 1000 new specialists for the joint project. At an event in Tokyo Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son presented the project. The guests in the room represented around half of the market capitalization of the entire Japanese stock market. They are the ones to whom the AI products are to be sold, resulting in an enormous increase in productivity and thus economic revival economic revival. The two CEOs then met with the Japanese Prime Minister Prime Minister Shigeru Ishibawho promised his full support.

This news is just one more of many promising developments with regard to the SoftBank Group. The company has the potential to become a leader in the global AI industry and one of its biggest beneficiaries. Many announcements must now be followed by many actions, but even if only half of the plans are implemented, and I think there will be more, the share currently appears massively undervalued. It is impressive how much a single company can influence an entire country. I wish we had a company in Germany that would drive innovation forward so aggressively. In any case, the next few years will be very exciting!

https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/softbank-openai-set-up-ai-japan-joint-venture-2025-02-03/

Today I would like to introduce you to a technology that is one of the greatest technological revolution since the invention of the Internet. The project is being led by the company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) $9432 (+0,32%)a company that could be described as the Deutsche Telekom $DTE (+0,67%) of Japan. From the outside, it seems like a boring quality company, dividend share, safe haven.... But it is much more than that!

Our society is slowly but surely moving towards the AI age. Everything and everyone is connected. However, this also brings problems, because AI requires electricity, a great deal of electricity. It is currently assumed that in the future, an ever-increasing percentage of our electricity production will only be needed for data centers. This costs money and, in most cases, damages the environment on top of that.

This is the reason why NTT has launched the IOWN project (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) into being. In the meantime, the project has developed into a global initiative with NTT as the initiator, important direct partners such as Intel
$INTC (-4,07%), Sony
$6758 (+1,32%), NEC $6701 (-1,23%) and Fujitsu $6702 (-0,26%)as well as dozens of other partner companies (Google $GOOGL (-2,28%)Amazon $AMZN (-2,39%) , SoftBank $9984 (-1,64%)....).

What is IOWN about?

Today's network technology, which is based on electricity, is to be fundamentally rethought. Instead of electricity, networks with photons (light) operated. This technology will be used in mobile networks, data centers, industry and much more. The APN (All Photonic Network) is currently undergoing intensive testing and expansion.

NTT: "IOWN technologies are expected to reduce energy consumption by 100-fold transmission capacity by a factor of 125 times and increase end-to-end latency (≈delay) by a factor of 200-fold times."

Here is another typical Japanese graphic, detailed but confusing:

The introduction of IOWN technologies would thus solve the biggest problem of our digital society, energy consumption. Not only that, it would also surpass all current network technologies in terms of speed and capacity and capacity many times over. Today's technology is not able to outperform the APN. IOWN represents a technological revolution with a disruptive character an innovation that would be so groundbreaking that anyone who does not adapt it would be at a competitive disadvantage. And IOWN is not science fiction, it is already a reality.

For example, the first international APN was put into operation at the end of last year. In cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom $CHT (Taiwan's largest telecommunications group), stable communication over a distance of 3000km with 0.017sec delay was made possible.

Telecommunications is just one of many applications. The link with AI and quantum computers is also being intensively developed. The government is also supporting the project with appropriate regulatory support and subsidies.

The latest news can be followed on NTT's Research & Development website: https://group.ntt/en/rd/

To the NTT share:

The NTT share currently stands at a P/E RATIO 11so it will by no means trading at a premium with regard to IOWN. The core business is very stable (telecoms), which is why the risk is virtually non-existent. Even though IOWN is now a global project, NTT is still at the forefront of the project and holds the most important patents. most important patents APN technology and will therefore also be its biggest profiteer. IOWN technology is very complex and therefore very difficult to copy. There is also no real competition for NTT in this area. However, we will have to be patient a little longer before IOWN is rolled out on a large scale. Until
2030 further commercial applications are to be developed and projects in Japan are to be driven forward. From 2030 IOWN technology will then be rolled out globally. The global adaptation of IOWN technology would also involve high initial costs for setting up the new infrastructure, although this would be offset by the negligible energy requirements in the application. In addition, companies and countries that do not rely on IOWN due to its technological superiority would suffer a competitive disadvantage.

Conclusion:

NTT could trigger a new technological revolution with the IOWN initiative they are leading. The technological superiority over today's systems is impressive. The next 5-10 years will show whether the future will run on photonic networks. Even though IOWN has the potential to be a true revolution, NTT would already call it a mini-revolution. as an initiator and technology supplier. As the share is massively undervalued in view of the potential massively undervalued I consider the purchase to be a no-brainer. All we need to do now is be patient and follow current developments!

Not investment advice, of course 🥴

Do you think Germany will reach 50% fiber optics by the time the world switches to APN? 🤪

$$CIFR (-9,09%)
$9984 (-1,64%)

Cipher Mining Inc. announced a $50 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) from Softbank Group Corp, positioning the technology-focused investor as a major shareholder in the company.

Softbank becomes major investor in Cipher Mining

The Cipher Mining (Nasdaq: CIFR) transaction involves Softbank purchasing approximately 10.4 million shares of Cipher's common stock, with the funds directed toward the company's high performance computing (HPC) initiatives.

According to the company, the investment comes as Cipher continues to expand its presence in large-scale industrial data center development and Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities. Tyler Page, CEO of Cipher Mining, described the investment as a milestone in the company's growth.

"We are pleased to welcome Softbank as a major investor in Cipher," Page said on Friday. "This investment comes at a pivotal moment in Cipher's growth trajectory as the company continues to attract attention for its project pipeline and innovative solutions in the large-scale industrial data center space."

Cipher's CEO added:

Softbank's focus on innovation in technology and AI development aligns with our vision to establish ourselves as a leader in HPC data center development.

Cipher said on Friday that this investment strengthens its position in the industry as it pursues broader operational capabilities. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. acted as financial advisor to the company, while Latham & Watkins LLP provided legal counsel for the transaction.

Late last November, the company unveiled plans for a new facility, the Stingray site, designed to improve infrastructure. This addition would integrate 100 megawatts (MW) of front-of-the-meter capacity into the expanding data center network.

https://news.bitcoin.com/de/stablecoin-liquiditat-erreicht-rekordhohen-signalisiert-potenziellen-krypto-anstieg-cryptoquant/

I would like to share with you my theory on the deepseek issue.

AI has the potential to turn the current world order upside down. Computing power is the new oil of the 21st century. Until now, everyone was firmly convinced that this was associated with high acquisition costs (R&D, infrastructure...). In order to extend its lead in the field of AI, the USA announced the 500 billion dollar Stargate project project. This represents an unprecedented level of investment that could cause other regions of the world to fall behind. other regions of the world fall behind.

Now my theory comes into play. Only days after the announcement of this investment package, news suddenly spread about a Chinese AI start-up that is supposedly as good as OpenAI, but can do the whole thing for virtually nothing. The information on the 6 million dollar development costs is as questionable as it is unverifiable.

The direct consequence of this news is that major investments in AI are being questioned. Why invest 500 billion in AI when you only need 6 million? The Chinese government with its puppet deepseek has now achieved its goal. They want to blow up Stargateblock it or simply take the wind out of its sails. SoftBank $9984 (-1,64%), OpenAI and Oracle $ORCL (-4,33%) will not be deterred from the project, but potential investors such as Apollo, Brookfield or sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East could be unsettled and reconsider their investments. be unsettled and reconsider their investments.

Meanwhile subsidizes China continues to secretly subsidize its own AI industry with billions. As private investors are unwilling or unable to invest so much money in China, they have resorted to this perfidious strategy in times of the cold war of technology probably the new normal.

What do you think of my theory? Or do you think it was all just a coincidence, there is no intention behind it and deepseek is a great thing?

According to Bloomberg, SoftBank $9984 (-1,64%) and OpenAI will each initially invest 19 billion dollars in Stargate. Each will hold 40% of the shares in the joint venture. Oracle $ORCL (-4,33%) and MGX are both investing 7 billion dollars, but no specific shares are attributed to them. The remainder of the initial 100 billion dollars will be financed through debt and smaller investments from third parties.

Who still finds it funny how offended Elon Musk is about the whole thing? Trump has shown him who really has the say.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/softbank-openai-plan-19-billion-022702821.html

I would like to initiate a discussion on the occasion of the recently announced 500 billion dollar Stargate project in the USA.

Do you think it is possible for Europe to catch up with the existing technological backlog? Or is "Stargate" the final nail in the coffin? And which countries do you see at the forefront of the AI age in the future?

For me, these countries are on the winning side:

USA 🇺🇸 - The USA has been at the forefront of technology right from the start. OpenAI (ChatGPT), Alphabet $GOOGL (-2,28%) (Gemini), Meta $META (-1,11%) Microsoft $MSFT (-1,57%) .... The list of companies relevant to the industry is long. Nowhere else in the world is more invested in AI. "Stargate" will now increase this imbalance many times over

China 🇨🇳 - China acts independently of the West and yet is still a major player with companies such as Tencent $TCEHY (+2,81%) , Alibaba $BABA (+5,86%) , Huawei, Xiaomi $1810 (+2,88%) and Baidu $9888 (+1,94%) are ideally positioned. Chinese companies are fast and innovative. The gigantic subsidies from the Chinese government also play a decisive role in this context. Another advantage is that the Chinese are currently receiving energy from Russia virtually as a gift.

Japan 🇯🇵 - With SoftBank, Japan has $9984 (-1,64%) a real AI champion in its country. In Japan, NVIDIA and SoftBank $NVDA (-3,63%) and SoftBank are building a joint innovative AI infrastructure. The fact that SoftBank and OpenAI are to be the lead partners in the Stargate project and that Masayoshi Son (CEO of SoftBank) will chair the new company will benefit Japan. The huge assets that are being built up there will flow back into the home country in one way or another. The close cooperation with the government (+high subsidies), the leading position in robotics and the recent developments in the semiconductor industry should also be noted.

Singapore 🇸🇬 - Very small country, lots of money, very good government, very well-educated population, lots of expats, lots of foreign investment, very few logistical challenges as a city state...... So things are looking VERY good for Singapore.

UAE 🇦🇪 /Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦/Qatar 🇶🇦 - Rich Gulf states that will invest billions in AI projects abroad (e.g. UAE participation in "Stargate"). They will generate large returns on these investments, while at the same time investing in the digitalization of their own country, thereby bringing great prosperity to their relatively small populations. Although there is also a large expat community in the UAE, including in the field of AI, I think that the Gulf states will mainly benefit from their investment funds.

I am unsure about these countries unsure:

Canada 🇨🇦 - Canada is innovative and wealthy, but there are not really any relevant companies in the AI sector. In addition, the universities are middle class and they lose a lot of talent to their neighbor, the USA. However, the country has potential, also because it is very attractive for foreign specialists.

Taiwan 🇹🇼 - TSMC $2330 from Taiwan supplies the world with chips, including those urgently needed for AI, but the country's heavy dependence on a single company, which has recently been expanding abroad (especially Japan and the USA), poses a risk. The development of the conflict with China and the possible success of Rapidus from Japan and Samsung in the field of 2nm chips will also be decisive for Taiwan's future in the field of AI.

South Korea 🇰🇷 - Technological leader, politically unstable. Companies like Samsung $005930 and SK Hynix $000660 from South Korea are leaders in the field of AI. There is a great deal of expertise in the country and the government is also supporting the transformation. However, I am unsure about the excessive dependence on the chaebols (e.g. Samsung), which account for an unhealthily large proportion of economic output. The dysfunctionality of the rule of law due to corrupt politicians and courts, the recent very tense domestic political situation and the constant threat from neighboring North Korea should also be viewed critically.

India 🇮🇳 - The next few years will show whether India can become the new China. India is growing dynamically and, with its 1.4 billion inhabitants, has a huge potential workforce, but it is still heavily dependent on foreign know-how. India is not as innovative as developed countries and has to deal with domestic challenges such as hunger, which could make investment in AI more difficult. Indian companies are very open to AI and are trying to adapt it quickly, but developing it is another matter.

The Netherlands 🇳🇱 - With ASML $ASML (-0,72%) the Netherlands is home to one of the most important companies when it comes to AI. Without ASML's machines, the particularly advanced chips required for AI could not be produced. This puts the Netherlands, with its small population, in a rather comfortable position. However, it is also heavily dependent on a single company, which is also increasingly being targeted by geopolitics, with the result that the USA regularly blackmails the Netherlands to dictate where it has to deliver these machines. Recently, there have also been developments that threaten ASML's monopoly.

Germany 🇩🇪 - Germany is good at AI research, but there is a lack of AI champions. Companies such as Siemens $SIE (-0,45%) are doing well in terms of industrial AI and SAP is also $SAP (-1,87%) is investing heavily in its own AI, but there is still no sign of a German export hit in the field of AI. There is also a massive lack of investment in AI infrastructure and politicians are blocking rather than promoting. There is a general lack of a national vision, a combination of strategic policy and large-scale private investment, as is the case in other countries. The EU is also more of an obstacle to new investments. The concept of joint ventures is also used less in this country, although this could help to pool knowledge and resources in order to make a difference for one's own country. So all is not lost, but a political reorientation and new entrepreneurial courage are needed to catch up, which is getting bigger every day.

France 🇫🇷 - The French are also innovative and have an AI star in their country with Mistral AI, but they have similar problems to the Germans. Politics at national and EU level and the lack of major investments and new infrastructure are paralyzing the country.

UK 🇬🇧 - With universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, the UK has been conducting top-level research for a long time, including in the field of AI. They are innovative with many expats from abroad, although recently less from continental Europe. Unfortunately, however, they do not have any notable tech companies to call their own. Two of the most innovative tech companies and British hopefuls, ARM $ARM (-3,76%)

and Graphcore, are now both owned by the aforementioned Japanese SoftBank Group, but this does not mean that the UK can no longer benefit from the positive development of these companies. Nevertheless, they are no longer British.

ConclusionIt will not be easy for Europe to catch up. The competitors are mostly fast, very financially strong, innovative and led by visionaries. We cannot compete with a fragmented capital market, slow decision-making processes and bureaucrats from Brussels. However, it is also clear that the potential is there. We (still) have many bright minds here, but without a fundamental change in policy, decisive reforms and some pioneering spirit, I believe it will be impossible to catch up. The window of opportunity is getting smaller.

How do you see it all? Do you disagree somewhere or are you missing an important country?

After the latest news, should you consider investing in $ORCL (-4,33%) or $9984 (-1,64%) to invest?

For some time now $9984 (-1,64%) on my watchlist for several reasons:

• Fair valuation 🤝
• Japan underrepresented in PF 🇯🇵
• Communications sector underrepresented in PF ☎️

For once, I managed the first strike with good market timing. The amount should grow over time via savings plans. There is a lot to gain for the company in the next few years 💯

I am unsure about following up on $8058 (+0,45%)which I also consider to be very fairly valued...

Netflix with record increase of almost 19 million users + Evotec receives funding from the Korean government + Trump announces AI infrastructure investments + Trump open to Musk's purchase of Tiktok

Netflix $NFLX (-1,73%)delivers after-hours figures

• Netflix has broken the 300 million user mark after record growth in the past quarter.
• In the quarter with the second season of the South Korean hit series "Squid Game", the company added almost 19 million users, as announced by the company on Tuesday after the US stock exchange closed.
• This was around twice as many as analysts had expected - the video streaming market leader also exceeded Wall Street forecasts for revenue and profit.
• Netflix now has 301.6 million customer households.
• The largest quarterly increase to date was around 15 million at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
• However, with the record, Netflix will now stop providing information on the number of users.
• Netflix's revenue rose by 16% year-on-year to 10.2 billion dollars in the past quarter.
• At the bottom line, profit jumped from 938 million dollars a year earlier to 1.87 billion dollars.
• The results were well received by investors: The share price rose by eight percent at times in after-hours trading.

Evotec $EVT (-0,94%)receives funding from the Korean government to develop novel antibody-based treatments for lung diseases

• Yonsei University, Zymedi and Evotec receive USD 4.5 m from the Korea Institute of Advanced Technology under the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
• The funding will support a novel collaboration to develop first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of asthma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Trump announces AI infrastructure investments led by Oracle $ORCL (-4,33%), OpenAI and Softbank $9984 (-1,64%)supported by

• Executives pledged to invest an initial $100 billion and up to $500 billion over the next four years in the project, which will be set up as an independent company
• https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/21/trump-ai-openai-oracle-softbank.html?irclickid=x7cRozR4exyKT%3ARS-WUlu0FFUksxGHydHx9a1w0&irgwc=1

Trump open to Musk's purchase of Tiktok

• US President Donald Trump has no objections to tech billionaire Elon Musk taking over Tiktok.
• He is open to it if Musk wants to buy the video app, Trump said in the White House in response to a question from journalists.
• He also reiterated that he believes Tiktok should be half-owned by the USA.
• Musk's name had recently been mentioned in media reports.
• The Wall Street Journal and the financial service Bloomberg wrote that the Chinese government was considering the option of selling Tiktok to Musk.
• The tech billionaire and current Trump confidant has considerable business interests in China: the electric car manufacturer Tesla, which he manages, has a large plant in Shanghai.
• Musk could link Tiktok with X Musk already owns the online platform X, which is based on the short messaging service he bought, Twitter.
• He supported Trump's election campaign with more than 200 million dollars and made X an even more important platform for the president and his supporters.
• The clock is ticking for Tiktok in the USA. A US law stipulated that the China-based Tiktok owner Bytedance had to divest itself of Tiktok by last Sunday in order for the app to remain available in the US.
• However, this did not happen and the app was temporarily taken offline at the weekend.
• Trump gives Tiktok more time On Monday, however, Trump issued an executive order that the Department of Justice should not enforce the provisions of the law for 75 days.
• It remains to be seen whether he can do this legally.
• Trump is convinced that he can strike a deal for Tiktok. He argues that Tiktok is worth nothing without the US market and that he is therefore in a strong negotiating position.
• Officially, Tiktok has always rejected a change of ownership.
• Concerns in the US The law - which Trump must also abide by - was triggered by worries that the Chinese government could use Tiktok to gain access to US users' data and manipulate public opinion in the US.
• Tiktok rejects this.
• At the same time, Trump played down the data protection concerns.
• There are bigger problems than information about young Tiktok users falling into Chinese hands, he said on Monday.

Wednesday: Stock market dates, economic data, quarterly figures

• ex-dividend of individual stocks
• Acerinox EUR 0.31
• Dell Technologies Registered USD 0.45

• Quarterly figures / company dates USA / Asia
• 12:25 Johnson & Johnson quarterly figures
• 12:30 GE Vernova quarterly figures
• 12:45 Halliburton | Johnson & Johnson quarterly figures
• 12:55 Procter & Gamble quarterly figures
• 13:00 Travelers Cos quarterly figures
• 13:30 Abbott Laboratories quarterly figures
• 16:00 United Airlines quarterly figures
• 22:10 Alcoa annual results

• Quarterly figures / Company dates Europe
• 08:00 Easyjet quarterly figures
• 17:45 VW Pre Close Call

Economic data

11:00 EU: Government Debt 3Q | Government Deficit 3Q

12:00 DE: Bundesbank, monthly report January

16:00 US: Leading Indicators Index December FORECAST: -0.1% yoy previous: +0.3% yoy

16:15 CH: ECB President Lagarde, participation in dialog on "Beyond Crisis: Unlocking Europe's Potential" at World Economic Forum Davos

19:30 CH: ECB Governing Council member Nagel, participation in panel at World Economic Forum Davos

19:30 DE: President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, participates in a panel discussion at the event "Evening Reception, Frankfurt RheinMain International Marketing of the Region"