SoftBank Group plans to establish and list an artificial-intelligence and robotics company called Roze in the U.S., potentially raising capital to propel founder Masayoshi Son¡¯s growing bets on AI.
The Japanese investment firm aims to create and float such a vehicle as soon as this year, though the timing on that could slip to 2027, people familiar with the matter said, asking to remain anonymous to discuss confidential plans. SoftBank representatives declined to comment on the move, which the Financial Times earlier reported could value Roze at $100 billion. The company¡¯s shares swung between gains and losses in Tokyo.
Son¡¯s envisioned spinoff would run up against growing concerns about the sustainability of a historic data center buildout led by the likes of Meta Platforms and Amazon. SoftBank has placed a giant bet on OpenAI in particular, while trying to mold Arm Holdings into a potential competitor to Nvidia.
The Japanese group has piled on debt while Son sought to position himself as a linchpin in the global AI boom. His company recently committed an additional $30 billion to the ChatGPT developer after having previously put in more than that same amount. Last month, SoftBank signed a $40 billion loan ¡ª its largest-ever lending facility solely denominated in dollars ¡ª in part for its most recent follow-on investment.
Some within the company harbor doubts about Roze¡¯s valuation and IPO timeline in part because of the uncertainty surrounding the Middle East conflict, the FT said. Details including the stake in Roze to be floated have yet to be finalized, the newspaper reported.
SoftBank has stepped up investments in AI in past months.
The company signed a $3 billion deal to buy private equity firm DigitalBridge Group, whose portfolio includes digital infrastructure companies such as AtlasEdge, DataBank, Switch and Vantage Data Centers. Prior to that announcement, SoftBank bought U.S. chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion and announced a $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB¡¯s robotics unit.
SoftBank, which had pledged to shepherd a $500 billion Stargate push alongside OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi¡¯s MGX to build data centers in the U.S., separately pursued a deal of around $50 billion for data center operator Switch, but the talks were halted earlier this year.
¡°There was already skepticism around SoftBank¡¯s ¡¯overinvestment¡¯ in AI, and this report has likely amplified those concerns,¡± said Hiroyuki Ueno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. ¡°How much longer can they really keep this up?¡±
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