SoftBank, OpenAI agree to set up joint venture for AI services

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said Monday that his tech investment company and artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, the developer of the chatbot ChatGPT, have agreed to establish a joint venture to promote AI services for corporations.

The new 50-50 venture, named SB OpenAI Japan, will utilize massive quantities of data stored in systems of client companies and offer optimal management solutions, Son said in a speech at an event in Tokyo.

"We will launch from Japan the world's first advanced AI services for large corporations," Son said, adding that they plan to expand AI use in the future to the government and other areas such as the medical and educational sectors.

Later in the day, Son met Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the premier's office to report the latest move, as competition with China in AI development has been intensifying. Chinese startup DeepSeek's chatbot has recently drawn significant global attention.

Ishiba said during the meeting, "We will take measures to strengthen collaboration between Japan and the United States on artificial intelligence."

Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, who also met Ishiba along with Son, told reporters after the gathering, "I think this will be a step that really lets us bring very advanced AI to the Japanese market."

The two companies said last month that they will form a new firm with Oracle Corp, which will invest at least $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States under the Stargate Project.

The U.S. initiative, announced in front of President Donald Trump at a press conference at the White House, aims to build massive state-of-the-art data centers in the United States to accelerate AI development, according to the firms.

Calling SB OpenAI Japan the Japanese version of the Stargate Project, Son said SoftBank will become the venture's first customer and pay around $3 billion annually to utilize the services across its group, which includes mobile payment service operator PayPay Corp.

Son also said at the event that he hopes to set up data centers in Japan to support the Asian country's project, emphasizing that client information will be managed domestically and that each customer's details will not be shared with others.

He said SoftBank will dispatch about 1,000 employees to the new company to help launch the new service, while OpenAI will send some engineers.

SoftBank Group has in recent years been focusing on investment in AI startups. The company has been ramping up efforts to build AI infrastructure in Japan, unveiling a plan to construct a data center for AI development in Osaka while setting up another one in Hokkaido.

© KYODO