Japan-based technology company SoftBank (NASDAQ: SFTBF) is eyeing artificial intelligence (AI), with analysts predicting the company's investment in the field could reach as much as $9 billion.
The past 12 months have been eventful for the tech company, with executives teasing high-level partnerships and investments with cutting-edge AI developers, and after months of watching from the sidelines, SoftBank says it's ready to get in and close the gap with other industry leaders.
SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto told reporters that the company has a healthy balance sheet and can compete on equal terms with the larger players in the ecosystem. He stated that instead of focusing on building its own AI services from scratch, SoftBank will invest in emerging AI companies in line with its corporate strategy.
“In principle, we will maintain the same trend in terms of the pace of investment activity,” Goto said.
The firm holds significant stakes in Alibaba Group (NASDAQ: BABAF), Sprint Corporation, Boston Dynamics, Yahoo Japan, Uber (NASDAQ: UBER), and Brightstar (NASDAQ: BTSR), but a full-scale shift to AI could see the firm putting money into major AI companies.
“We have kept our balance sheet at a very safe level because we want to be flexible in case there is something we want to do moving forward,” Goto added.
SoftBank subsidiary Arm plans to develop its own AI chips by the end of 2025, while the company is in high-profile talks with OpenAI's Sam Altman about a global fund for manufacturing AI chips. While most of the talks have focused on the hardware side, there are also rumors that SoftBank may invest in AI software in the coming months to compete with the frontrunners.
Although SoftBank's foray into AI has been described as a counterattack, it is expected to face stiff competition from existing players and it will not be easy.
Already, OpenAI, Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Meta (NASDAQ: META) have allocated more than $40 billion to AI development, and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is expanding its reach through multi-billion investments in the UK, Australia and Southeast Asia.
Continuity with emerging technologies
SoftBank has made a number of investments in emerging technologies, including blockchain technology and quantum computing.
The company reportedly partnered with Synchronoss and TBCASoft for a blockchain-based mobile payment service in 2018.
The telecommunications company has previously used blockchain to track and reduce carbon emissions while increasing its investments in digital currency mining companies, but its focus on AI may result in a decrease in blockchain investments.
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