SoftBank's Son Dismisses AI Bubble Fears, Defends $5 Trillion-a-Year Spending
Updated
Updated · Futurism · Jul 16
SoftBank's Son Dismisses AI Bubble Fears, Defends $5 Trillion-a-Year Spending
3 articles · Updated · Futurism · Jul 16
Summary
Masayoshi Son told SoftBank’s annual conference in Tokyo that calling AI a bubble is “absurd” and said annual investment of $5 trillion, or 800 trillion yen, would be justified for decades.
Son argued AI spending would be trivial by 2040 if AI revenue reaches 20% of global GDP, extending his superintelligence timeline beyond an earlier 2035 target.
SoftBank’s own exposure makes the stance especially consequential: the group has poured nearly $65 billion into OpenAI, a concentration that has already drawn pressure from credit-rating agencies.
S&P shifted SoftBank’s outlook to negative in March, warning more OpenAI investment would weaken portfolio liquidity and add nearly 4 percentage points to its loan-to-value ratio.