Tokyo - SoftBank Group reported its net profit more than tripled to 1.83 trillion yen ($11.6 billion) in the January-March quarter, driven by gains from its investment in OpenAI.
The Japanese tech investor has now posted five consecutive quarterly profits. The Vision Fund arm recorded a 3.1 trillion yen gain linked to the ChatGPT developer. Founder and CEO Masayoshi Son remains one of OpenAI's biggest backers, with cumulative gains on the investment totaling $45 billion.
However, the scale of the wager-SoftBank's most ambitious spending since the Vision Fund launches-has raised questions about financing pressures. Critics note that OpenAI faces stiff competition from Alphabet's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, while AI training costs are rising.
To fund the spending, SoftBank sold stakes in T-Mobile and Nvidia, issued bonds, and took out loans. In March, it arranged a $40 billion bridge loan; $20 billion was drawn down in April, with $2.5 billion already repaid.
SoftBank also committed an additional $30 billion to OpenAI through 2026, bringing its total stake to 13% at $64.6 billion. The group also booked a 278.6 billion yen gain on its Intel investment.
Beyond AI, SoftBank is expanding into robotics. It agreed to acquire ABB's robotics business for $5.4 billion and created a subsidiary to house its robotics holdings.