SoftBank Group announced that it sold the entirety of its stake in Nvidia for about $5.83 billion, marking a large shake-up in its investment portfolio.
This investment also aligns with the renewed focus of SoftBank on AI and next-generation technology investments.
It also posted a quarterly profit surge that reflects strong performances of its Vision Fund and AI-related assets.
What began as a Japanese telecommunications company, founded by Masayoshi Son, has grown to be one of the major technology investment conglomerates in the world today. In the last decade or so, it has built a formidable reputation for audacious, large-scale bets on disruptive technologies, and at the heart of its long-term strategy going forward is AI.
The SoftBank Vision Fund was established in 2017 and rapidly emerged as one of the largest technology investment vehicles in the world, bankrolling household names like Uber, WeWork, and DoorDash. Its portfolio performance has meanwhile been on a rollercoaster ride, with early missteps prompting SoftBank to button down investment discipline and home in on high-growth, sustainable businesses. Then the fresh success of AI-driven companies lately gave it a new sense of direction, perfect by the founder’s longtime belief that “AI will redefine humanity’s future.” For its part, Nvidia has become one of the most influential companies in the recent global AI revolution, with top-notch GPUs and chips that became a must for training AI models, data centers, and high-performance computing.
An investment into Nvidia by SoftBank was very profitable, with a stake value that soared amid global demand for AI hardware. By selling its shares in Nvidia, SoftBank cashes out at record valuations and promises to move the money into ventures where it sees longer-term potential. The sale also comes at a time when SoftBank has been aggressively pushing into AI infrastructure and chip design through its Arm Holdings unit. After the successful IPO of Arm, in which SoftBank retained the majority stake, the group said it would tap into the capability of Arm to create an end-to-end AI ecosystem from hardware and data processing to robotics. This exit is important financially for SoftBank because the deal provides room to pursue fresh deals while containing debt exposure. Analysts say the $5.83 billion inflow will be used partly to scale Arm’s AI initiatives and finance Vision Fund 3, which is heavily targeting AI, robotics, and automation startups. But the move also has sparked debate among investors.
To some, the sale of Nvidia represents an opportunity to take profits from a mature position and reinvest in early-stage innovations where SoftBank can play a more active role; to others, SoftBank is overextending its AI ambitions at a time when the market remains unpredictable. Ultimately, SoftBank’s divestment from Nvidia underlines its strategic shift: rather than passively holding stakes in established giants, it seems intent upon shaping the next generation of AI-driven enterprises-staking its future on innovation, infrastructure, and intelligence.
