SoftBank Turns to AI After Divesting Nvidia Shares

After SoftBank Group divested its full interest in Nvidia in October for $5.8 billion, the company announced that its profit in fiscal Q2 surged to JPY2.5 trillion ($16.2 billion). Simultaneously, its AI and chipmaking investments soared.

In its earnings call, SoftBank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto, referring to the sale of its holdings in Nvidia, said its OpenAI investment is large. “For that, we do need to divest our existing portfolio so that it can be utilised for our financing.” Goto noted last quarter that fiscal 2025 would be a year of acceleration. He said net profit in H2 reached a record high of JPY2.9 trillion. Net profit in Q2 was JPY1.2 trillion. Goto said the value of its investments in OpenAI jumped by $14.6 billion.

Its Vision Funds’ Q2 profit jumped to JPY2.4 trillion from JPY373.1 billion. The unit’s investment gains rose nearly sixfold to JPY2.8 trillion. The chip design unit Arm returned to profit in the July to September period, booking a gain of JPY32.3 billion after a loss of JPY6.3 billion a year earlier. Total revenue rose 32% to JPY167.4 billion, with licensing revenue up 56%. The company announced a 4-for-1 stock split effective from the beginning of next year.