The Japanese investment giant SoftBank is reportedly in discussions to invest up to $25 billion (£20 billion) in OpenAI, potentially making it the largest financial backer of the startup behind ChatGPT.
SoftBank is considering an investment between $15 billion and $25 billion in the San Francisco-based company.
SoftBank, which has invested in companies such as TikTok’s parent firm, ByteDance, and the British chip designer Arm, is already an investor in OpenAI. The firm recently participated in a funding round that valued OpenAI at $157 billion, with Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest shareholder, also taking part.
Last week, OpenAI and SoftBank joined forces with Oracle to launch Stargate, an initiative that Donald Trump called “the largest AI infrastructure project in history.” The partnership is aimed at developing data centers for AI systems, with an initial investment of $100 billion.
Citing multiple sources familiar with the discussions, it was reported that SoftBank’s equity investment would account for its financial commitment to Stargate.
Softbank and Open AI
However, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and a key figure in the Trump administration, has expressed skepticism, claiming that Stargate’s backers “don’t actually have the money.”
In response, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, disputed Musk’s claim on the social media platform X, stating: “This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put US first.”
OpenAI faced new competition this month with the rise of Chinese rival DeepSeek. After the company’s latest chatbot soared to the top of Apple’s free app store, AI-related stocks experienced a sharp decline on Monday.
Although Altman initially welcomed the competition, calling DeepSeek “legitimately invigorating,” OpenAI later claimed to have evidence that Chinese startups were “constantly” leveraging its technology to develop competing AI products.
The proposed equity investment in OpenAI, spearheaded by SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, has already been reviewed by senior executives and OpenAI’s board. However, the deal has not yet been finalized.
