SoftBank’s CFO Yoshimitsu Goto said the sale of Nvidia shares provided liquidity to fund the company’s growing commitment to OpenAI
In sum – what to know:
Record-breaking profit – SoftBank’s fiscal Q2 net profit hit JPY2.5 trillion, driven by AI-linked gains and the performance of its Vision Funds.
Strategic Nvidia exit – The $5.8 billion sale of Nvidia shares freed up capital for SoftBank’s OpenAI investment, signaling a shift toward AI services and platforms.
Arm rebounds strongly – The chip design unit posted JPY32.3 billion profit, with revenue up 32% year-on-year as licensing demand surged.
SoftBank Group reported a sharp rise in profit for fiscal Q2 2024, ending September 30, with net income surging to JPY2.5 trillion ($16.2 billion), chiefly fueled by AI and chipmaking investments, the company said in its earnings release.
The result follows SoftBank’s $5.8 billion divestment of its entire Nvidia stake in October.
During the earnings call, SoftBank’s CFO Yoshimitsu Goto said the sale of Nvidia shares provided liquidity to fund the company’s growing commitment to OpenAI, noting: “For that, we do need to divest our existing portfolio so that can be utilized for our financing.”
Goto reiterated that fiscal 2025 would be “a year of acceleration”, pointing to record-high net profit in H2 of JPY2.9 trillion. The company’s Vision Funds posted JPY2.4 trillion in profit, up from JPY373.1 billion a year earlier.
“OpenAI is one of our key growth drivers. In the second quarter, the fair value of our OpenAI investment rose sharply, reflecting the latest transaction valuation. OpenAI addressed its long term structure, and Vision Fund 2 will invest an additional $22.5 billion in December at a $260 billion pre-money valuation. This reinforces our long-term partnership,” Goto said.
“OpenAI’s business is expanding at an exceptional pace. Weekly active users reached 800 million in October, and total app downloads this year have exceeded 870 million — far ahead of any other generative AI platform. This growth confirms OpenAI’s leadership and its importance to our strategy as we move toward Artificial Super Intelligence,” the executive added.
Meanwhile, Arm, the chip design unit that went public in 2023, returned to profit with JPY32.3 billion in earnings compared to a loss of JPY6.3 billion the previous year. Its revenue rose 32% to JPY167.4 billion, driven by a 56% surge in licensing income.
“Arm also delivered strong results, achieving record-high revenue in the first half. Demand for AI-related workloads rose, driving both royalties and licensing. Together, Arm and OpenAI are powering SoftBank Group toward our goal of becoming the number one platform provider for the Artificial Super Intelligence era,” Goto said.
SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund was weighing job cuts of up to 20% as the Japanese company’s CEO Masayoshi Son intensifies his pivot toward large-scale investments in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, Bloomberg previolsly reported.
The cuts reflect the diminishing role of the Vision Fund as SoftBank allocates resources into AI projects, including a $30 billion plan to back OpenAI and a $6.5 billion acquisition of chipmaker Ampere Computing, still under regulatory review.
