SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest as much as $25 billion into OpenAI in a deal that would make it the artificial intelligence firm’s largest backer.
The deal, which has not yet been finalized, is for a $15 billion to $25 billion investment into OpenAI, on top of SoftBank’s more than $15 billion commitment to the recently announced Stargate project, the Financial Times earlier reported.
President Donald Trump last week unveiled the $500 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure project, which will fund massive data centers in Texas.
OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle jointly launched the venture.
SoftBank and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Currently, OpenAI’s largest investor is Microsoft, which has committed nearly $14 billion to date.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has reportedly been looking to chip away at his company’s reliance on Microsoft by developing its own AI chips and partnering with other tech giants like Oracle.
Under the Stargate agreement, Microsoft also agreed to relinquish its position as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud service provider.
SoftBank could end up spending more than $40 billion on its partnership with OpenAI, according to the report.
“The talks are ongoing and the amount that SoftBank could invest in primary equity into OpenAI is a moving target,” one person familiar with the matter told the FT.
SoftBank’s equity investment in the AI firm could potentially cover OpenAI’s $15 billion commitment to the Stargate project, according to the FT.
In November, OpenAI allowed its employees to sell about $1.5 billion worth of shares in a tender offer to SoftBank, according to a CNBC report.
Masayoshi Son, who founded the Japanese tech firm in 1981, was reportedly persistent in asking for a larger stake in the startup, a source then told CNBC.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is in the process of transitioning to a for-profit structure, a move that has been met with legal challenges from Tesla founder Elon Musk – who cut ties with the firm in 2018 after co-founding it with Altman and others.
Musk, a close Trump ally who joined him at rallies and donated millions to his campaign efforts, has also criticized the Stargate project and questioned its legitimacy.
“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on his social platform X last week, after the announcement. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
The nonprofit is removing some of its restrictions as it aims to operate more like a startup, which it has said will require more capital.
“The hundreds of billions of dollars that major companies are now investing into AI development show what it will really take for OpenAI to continue pursuing the mission,” OpenAI’s board said in a blog post last month.
If Son spends $40 billion or more on his investment into OpenAI, it would be one of his largest ever – beating SoftBank’s $16 billion deal with WeWork, the failed office space company.
OpenAI – which launched the uber-popular chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022 – has been valued at $157 billion by private investors, after closing a $6.6 billion funding round in October.
