SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son will invest 15 trillion yen to promote 'Project Izanagi' to establish an AI semiconductor venture to compete with NVIDIA

The American economic newspaper Bloomberg reports that SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is considering investing up to $100 billion (approximately 15 trillion yen) to launch an AI semiconductor venture to compete with NVIDIA. Masu.

SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son Seeks to Build AI Chip Venture to Rival Nvidia - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-16/masayoshi-son-seeks-to-build-a-100-billion-ai-chip-venture

Softbank founder reportedly aims to raise $100 billion to build AI chip company that would rival Nvidia — Project Izanagi might leverage Arm design | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/softbank-founder-reportedly-aims-to-raise-dollar100-billion-to-build-ai-chip-company-that-would-rival- nvidia

According to Bloomberg, this investment is codenamed ``Project Izanagi'' and is being directly directed by Mr. Son. This code name is based on Izanagi no Mikoto, the god of birth of the country that appears in the Japanese Kojiki, and also includes the abbreviation `` AGI '', which stands for artificial general intelligence. It seems that this is the origin. As stated in the video of the special lecture below, Mr. Son said, ``A world filled with machines smarter than humans will be safer, healthier, and happier than humans,'' and he has high hopes for AGI. is shown.

SoftBank World 2023 Masayoshi Son Special Lecture Towards a new world centered on AGI - YouTube


Regarding the venture established by Project Izanagi, Mr. Son is planning a company that will complement Arm, a semiconductor company affiliated with the SoftBank Group. SoftBank split Arm's business in July 2020, and the IoT division was transferred to SoftBank, and Arm's semiconductor design IP business remains. In September of the same year, SoftBank announced a deal to sell Arm to NVIDIA for up to $40 billion (approximately 4.2 trillion yen at the exchange rate at the time), but the deal was delayed by regulatory authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom, and the transaction was not completed. NVIDIA has given up on acquiring Arm due to lack of prospects.

There is a possibility that NVIDIA's acquisition of SoftBank's semiconductor company Arm may end - GIGAZINE

After that, SoftBank completely changed its focus to Arm, and in 2023 filed an application for Arm to go public on NASDAQ. As a result, Arm's market capitalization has jumped to 153.2 billion dollars (approximately 23 trillion yen), far exceeding SoftBank Group's market capitalization of 12.56 trillion yen. In response to this, SoftBank announced that ``Arm's growth is the most important issue in our future AI business strategy.''

At the time of writing the article, NVIDIA is in the lead in manufacturing semiconductors for AI. Research results announced in February 2024 revealed that NVIDIA holds a 98% share of the GPU market for data centers. It will be interesting to see whether the AI semiconductor venture that Project Izanagi aims to establish will be able to break through NVIDIA's stronghold.

It turns out that NVIDIA has a monopoly of 98% share in the GPU market for data centers, and AI performance makes the difference - GIGAZINE

According to Bloomberg, one of the scenarios being considered for Project Izanagi is that Softbank would receive $30 billion (approximately 4.5 trillion yen) and a Middle Eastern investment company would receive $70 billion (approximately 10.5 trillion yen). It is said that it will be prepared. Arm CEO Rene Haas is already advising Son as a member of SoftBank's board of directors. Project Izanagi is expected to be the largest AI-related investment, but the funding method and use of funds have not been determined, so there is a good chance that it will change in the future.

It has been reported that Son will participate in financing the construction of an AI semiconductor fab that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning, but Project Izanagi is not involved in Altman's plan. Bloomberg reports that it is unrelated. In addition, CEO Altman said that he is trying to get approval from the United States because concerns about national security and antitrust laws will increase if investments are made in the Middle East such as the United Arab Emirates.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to raise an extraordinary amount of hundreds of trillions of yen and aims to ``rebuild the semiconductor industry'', and there are reports that he has already met with Masayoshi Son and influential figures in the UAE - GIGAZINE

In addition, GraphCore, a British semiconductor company that develops AI accelerators, is reportedly considering selling it overseas. AI technology is seen as a strategic priority and is highly likely to be reviewed by UK regulators, but the market is valued at $500 million (approximately 75 billion yen). Softbank and OpenAI have been mentioned as companies interested in acquiring GraphCore. Who acquires GraphCore may have a major impact on the future of the AI semiconductor industry.

British AI champion Graphcore explores foreign sale
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/02/17/british-ai-champion-graphcore-explores-foreign-sale/