On August 5, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank Group is increasing its stake in Nvidia and TSMC. This latest move once again reflects CEO Masayoshi Son’s focus on the tools and hardware needed for A development.
Masayoshi Son
Regulatory filings show SoftBank increased its stake in Nvidia to about $3 billion in the quarter ended March, up from $1 billion in the previous quarter. At the same time, SoftBank also bought approximately US$330 million worth of TSMC shares and US$170 million of Oracle shares.
According to people familiar with the matter, in the first half of 2025, SoftBank’s iconic Vision Fund has realized nearly US$2 billion through public market assets and private equity assets. The person said that the Vision Fund’s primary goal is investment return, and SoftBank has not exerted specific asset realization pressure on it.
Son, 67, now wants to play a more central role in the AI push through large-scale partnerships, including the $500 billion Stargate data center project with OpenAI, Oracle and MGX, an Abu Dhabi-backed investment fund. Son is also actively lobbying TSMC and other companies to participate in his US$1 trillion AI manufacturing hub project in Arizona.
Currently, the top priority of SoftBank's AI ambitions is chip design company ARM. Masayoshi Son is gradually building an investment portfolio around the Cambridge, UK, company and companies in key industries, trying to make up for the historic surge he missed previously. This AI rally has pushed Nvidia’s market value to US$4 trillion and TSMC’s market value to nearly US$1 trillion.
As of press time, SoftBank representatives had no comment.