Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group logged a smaller-than-expected 18% drop in first-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by a gain on its stake in chipmaker Intel even as it recorded no valuation gain from its holdings in OpenAI.
The investment and technology conglomerate booked record net income of more than 5 trillion yen ($31.70 billion) last year, boosted by the rising value of its ChatGPT holdings.
With corporate exposure to the AI boom in focus around the world, investors are focusing their attention on the finances of Masayoshi Son's SoftBank as he bets big on AI.
"There's clear demand and an overwhelming shortage of supply," chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto said at a press conference in Tokyo when asked about fears of a bubble in the buildout of AI data centers.
"I think we're in a very healthy state," he added.
Net income in the April to June period was 347.3 billion yen. SoftBank booked an investment gain of 1.86 trillion yen in the quarter, with the biggest contributor its shareholding in Intel, whose shares have rallied.
Intel is run by Son's ally Lip-Bu Tan, and SoftBank made an investment in the chipmaker last year as it underwent restructuring. SoftBank also booked a gain on its stake in TikTok parent ByteDance.
SoftBank's fortunes have become closely tied to OpenAI, which is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) that may be held off until next year.
SoftBank's cumulative investment in OpenAI is set to reach $64.6 billion by October for a stake of around 13%. The total investment gain stands at $45 billion.
CFO Goto declined to comment on OpenAI's IPO plans at a press briefing in Tokyo on Thursday.
SoftBank said it agreed a $10 billion loan in August with financial institutions using its OpenAI stake as collateral. Talks for a loan had earlier stalled over difficulty in valuing OpenAI, as it is a private company, Reuters reported last month.
SoftBank has already arranged margin loans on its holdings in Arm and SoftBank Corp worth $20 billion and $7.4 billion, respectively.
Son has sold off assets, including holdings in Nvidia and T-Mobile, as he bets on AI-related companies.
While SoftBank secured a $40 billion bridging loan to cover its investment commitments in 2026, the facility will expire in March 2027, at which point SoftBank will have to pay it back or refinance.
In the second half of 2026, SoftBank has committed to investing a further $20 billion in OpenAI as well as $5.4 billion to acquire ABB's robotics business and $3.1 billion to acquire digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge.
SoftBank's net asset value hit a record high in June but had fallen back to 58.3 trillion yen as of Aug. 5.
