I have already described here several times this year why I think that the SoftBank Group share $9984 (+2,83%) is a top pick when it comes to AI. Now the share price confirms this assumption with an increase of more than 150% since April.
What is the reason for the sharp rise? The answer is short and clear: AI. The reorientation towards everything to do with AI in order to "become the number 1 platform provider for AI" has caused the share price to explode.
So many new projects were announced in 2024/2025 that it was impossible to keep up. The 500 billion dollar Stargate project in the USA and the 40 billion dollar financing round for OpenAI were particularly prominent.
Added to this is a strategic investment of 2 billion dollars in Intel $INTC (-1,64%)the announcement by the portfolio company ARM $ARM (+0,31%) to switch from pure IP licensing to its own chip design, a JV with OpenAI for enterprise AI in Japan, a JV with TempusAI $TEM (+1,97%) for medical AI in Japan, a JV with Intel for the development of energy-efficient memory chips (Saimemory) an IPO of the portfolio company and No. 1 fintech in Japan PayPay in New York, the plan together with NVIDIA $NVDA (-0,8%) to convert the Japanese telecommunications network for AI workloads (AI-RAN), several data centers under construction (independent of Stargate)........ The list could go on and on, but I think the message is clear.
In my opinion, no company is so broadly positioned when it comes to AI. From energy (SoftBank Energy), to the chips used (ARM, Ampere, Graphcore), to the data center as a whole (Stargate, others), to the AI itself (OpenAI) and the AI applications (various). They are active along the entire value chain.
I was also skeptical at first about how to manage all of this at once, also in terms of the sheer amount of work involved, but the first results are becoming visible. SoftBank is building 2 data centers with a capacity of 1.5 GW with OpenAI as part of Stargate. The fact that they are only involved in part of the Stargate data centers and then only with OpenAI is very positive, as I consider the projects on this scale to be very realistic. In addition, there are no conflicts about the technology to be used and SoftBank can clearly favor its portfolio companies in everything.
It will also be interesting to see how the 40 billion financing round progresses. The second half should be invested by the end of the year. With an agreed valuation of 260 billion dollars (plus cash 300), SoftBank should hold around 10% of OpenAI after the financing round. Now that NVIDIA has announced that it will invest 100 billion in OpenAI, although it is still unclear when, how and at what valuation, this is likely to have a massive impact on the value of SoftBank's stake.
The two Vision Funds are also doing well and have recovered from the difficult years. They are now another positive influence on the company's profits. However, they are becoming less and less important as more and more staff are withdrawn from them to work on the AI projects. Fewer new positions are also being added and some older ones are being liquidated.
I am particularly interested in how SoftBank's chip design ambitions will develop over the next few years. Now already in possession of three chip designers (ARM, Ampere Computing and Graphcore), a partnership with Intel (Saimemory) and a strategic stake in the Japanese giga start-up Rapidus, the focus is becoming increasingly visible. How quickly will the restructuring of ARM take shape? Will individual portfolio companies be merged? Will Rapidus, with its impressive interim results, be a success?
These questions will continue to occupy me over the next few years and I will continue to keep a close eye on the milestones achieved so far. The 2030s could definitely be transformative for the SoftBank Group.
