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Time of India
17-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman assures SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son about AI's increasing demand in coming days: ‘... seems to be huge'
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reassured SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son that demand for artificial intelligence in the coming days is only going to increase. Altman, who leads the company behind popular chatbot ChatGPT, emphasised the need to keep on building more computing capacity to better serve the upcoming demand. Speaking at SoftBank World via teleconference, the two business partners agreed that advancing AI would create new jobs that are currently unimagined and that robotics would initiate a "self-improvement" loop. Their conversation, addressing Japanese business and enterprise leaders, mainly centred around the theme of self-replicating innovation. What Sam Altman said about AI's demand in the future Responding to Son's concerns if returns slow down from further expansion of AI, Altman said: 'As we drive the cost of AI down, more people want to use it. So if we make the cost of AI 10 times cheaper, people wanna use it 30 times as much or whatever. And the demand for intelligence in the world just seems to be huge. As we think about scaling in the future, way beyond 10 gigawatts, we'll need new technologies and new construction." At the event, Altman also discussed the concept of robots building other robots, while Son further developed the idea of AI agents learning independently and then creating new ones to boost productivity, reports Bloomberg. Son also shared a plan to deploy a billion AI agents within the SoftBank group by this year and even design an operating system for them the report added. This comes after SoftBank and OpenAI launched a 50-50 joint venture to offer an enterprise AI product called Cristal Intelligence across various Japanese industries in February. SoftBank is set to invest $3 billion annually to adopt OpenAI's tools. Meanwhile, investor optimism has pushed SoftBank shares up by 38% in June. However, concerns remain over energy demands and risks from its complex financing that keep the stock undervalued compared to its assets. c Bill Gates No Longer among Top 10 Billionaires: The Real Reason AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Asahi Shimbun
17-07-2025
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
SoftBank to have 1 billion ‘AI agents' up and running by 2026
Masayoshi Son, chairman and president of SoftBank Group Corp., and Sam Altman, CEO of U.S.-based OpenAI, discuss projects at an event held in Tokyo on July 16. (Naoko Murai) SoftBank Group Corp. plans to have 1 billion 'AI (artificial intelligence) agents' working in place of humans by the end of this year, the company's chairman and president said on July 16. Masayoshi Son announced the plan at a company event in Tokyo for corporate clients. According to Son, these AI agents can answer questions and make suggestions, as well as perform tasks such as replying to emails, making reservations at stores and repairing systems. Son said that in a future with AI agents, they could, for example, perform maintenance and inspections on the hundreds of thousands of system devices in Japan. 'Until now, sensors have detected (problems) and people have given instructions, but AI agents will make individual judgments and take action for each device,' Son said. The plan is to have each employee of SoftBank Group create more than 1,000 AI agents, building up to 1 billion. The AI agents, customized for each employee, will be responsible for some of the day-to-day decisions and negotiations. With that, each employee will become like Senju Kannon, a Buddhist deity depicted with a thousand arms, Son said. The company will also create an operating system (OS) to allow the AI agents to cooperate with each other, he said. Sam Altman, CEO of U.S.-based OpenAI, also participated in the online event. OpenAI is working with SoftBank Group on Stargate, a project to build a network of massive data centers in the United States, and Altman said the project is making good progress. In February, the two companies announced that they will provide an AI service called Cristal Intelligence for businesses in Japan. At the event, Son expressed concern that the use of generative AI in Japan is lagging behind that of the United States and China. 'I also feel that (Japanese) society as a whole is getting a little old,' he said. 'The most important thing for Japan today is to take this evolution head-on and participate in it on its own.'
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
SoftBank changes India gears; Meesho's homecoming
SoftBank changes India gears; Meesho's homecoming Also in the letter: SoftBank explores buyout deals in India to accelerate AI-led IT services, BPO play Driving the news: It held talks to acquire AGS Health in a deal worth around $1 billion, though Blackstone eventually bagged it. SoftBank is also in discussions with WNS Global and several mid-sized outsourcing players, sources said. Zoom out: In the US, it is backing The Stargate Project, a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative. In Japan, SoftBank is developing Cristal Intelligence, a proprietary enterprise AI platform built with OpenAI. Through SB OpenAI Japan, it is co-developing enterprise-grade AI systems and solutions. Adding context: Sumer Juneja, head of India and EMEA for the Vision Fund, told ET earlier that the fund remains open to smaller initial bets, with the option to increase exposure as firms grow. Between the lines: Meesho concludes reverse flip process; likely to file DRHP in 2-3 weeks Driving the news: The SoftBank-backed company secured approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on May 27 to proceed with its reverse flip. As part of the move, the company is expected to face a tax liability of $280-300 million in the United States. With this, Meesho joins a growing list of high-profile startups, including Groww, Razorpay, Dream Sports, Zepto and PhonePe, that have redomiciled to India in recent years. Quote, unquote: Tell me more: Meesho filed for NCLT approval of the reverse merger in January. Around the same time, it closed a $550 million funding round, bringing in new investors including Tiger Global, Mars Growth Capital, and Think Investments. Meanwhile, Meesho's ecommerce rival, the Walmart-owned Flipkart, is also preparing to shift its domicile from Singapore to India ahead of a planned 2026 IPO. ETtech Done Deals: Zerodha's Kamaths buy minority stake in InCred Deeptech startup Fabheads raises $10 million led by Accel: EV infra startup Kazam raises $6.2 million in fresh round: Darwinbox completes Rs 86-crore Esop buyback from 350 employees: Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Over 17,300 GPUs installed under IndiaAI Mission: Prosus pegs IPO-bound Urban Company's fair value at $2.4 billion: Startups cheer HAL taking over ISRO's SSLV rocket: Global Picks We Are Reading Happy Tuesday! SoftBank is moving its focus from high-growth tech startups to acquiring Indian IT-enabled services firms. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ ETtech Done Deals■ IndiaAI Mission■ Urban Company's valueSoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi SonSoftBank is scouting for acquisitions in India's IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector, signalling a shift from its traditional focus on backing high-growth tech say the Masayoshi Son-led Japanese conglomerate is looking to buy or partner with business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT services firms to accelerate AI adoption in the services sector.'They're evaluating a range of BPO and KPO firms that are ripe for disruption. The goal is to pair SoftBank's tech playbook with services delivery,' a person familiar with the discussions told move ties into SoftBank's broader global AI ambitions:SoftBank's Vision Fund has invested $160 billion globally, with India as a key market. Its portfolio includes Paytm, Swiggy, Ola Electric, Delhivery and FirstCry. After a brief lull, the fund has re-entered the market with smaller cheques in the $30-40 million range, evaluating startups like acquisition-led play signals a deeper push to modernise legacy services with AI. It now wants to own the delivery rails where AI can drive meaningful scale and operational Aatrey, CEO, MeeshoEcommerce marketplace Meesho has completed its reverse flip and shifted its domicile to India, according to filings with the Registrar of Companies reviewed by ET."Meesho's board met late on has approved the merger and share allotment to investors of the US entity. It is now a fully Indian company," one of the persons said. The company is expected to file its draft IPO prospectus in the next two to three (Left) and Nithin KamathNithin and Nikhil Kamath, cofounders of stockbroking platform Zerodha, have acquired a minority stake in InCred Holdings for Rs 250 investment comes as InCred prepares for a potential Rs 4,000-crore initial public offering (IPO). As of April, it was in discussions with IIFL Securities, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Nomura Holdings to rope them as advisors for the latest funding round raises the total funds secured by the Chennai-based startup to $13 million. Most of these funds will be used to establish a larger manufacturing facility in Karnataka, covering 80,000 to 100,000 square feet, cofounder Dhinesh Kanagaraj told us. Additional funds will also be allocated to expand the leadership team and strengthen client-facing engineering as well as R&D International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, led the funding round , which took Kazam's total funding to $19.2 million, including $13 million from previous equity was Darwinbox's third such programme in four years, through which over 350 employees have sold their stock options to the company. The company did not disclose the amounts of its previous Esop buybacks but said this was Darwinbox's largest such minister Ashwini VaishnawProviders such as Yotta, NextGen, and E2E Networks have made significant strides in installing and commissioning GPUs, while Jio Platforms and CtrlS Datacenters are yet to deploy valuation , mentioned in Prosus' latest annual report, is higher than the $1.8 billion ET reported after several rounds of pre-IPO secondary transactions over the past startups are optimistic that the deal will enable them to depend less on overseas launch service providers like SpaceX, improve schedule visibility, and reduce costs.■ India is using AI and satellites to map urban heat vulnerability down to the building level ( Wired ■ LLMs factor in unrelated information when recommending medical treatments ( Massachusetts Institute of Technology — MIT News ■ Hinge CEO Justin McLeod says dating AI chatbots is 'playing with fire' ( The Verge
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Reasons Arm Holdings Is a Must-Buy for Long-Term Investors
Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) has emerged as a top AI stock following its initial public offering in September 2023. The chip design company, which specializes in power-efficient CPU architecture, seemed to be initially misunderstood by investors, but the stock has since tripled from its IPO price. Arm's shares are expensive today, trading at a price-to-sales ratio of 47, but the stock still offers tremendous long-term potential, especially as the influence of artificial intelligence (AI) spreads. Let's take a look at three reasons why Arm is a must-own stock for long-term investors. Arm stock got a shot in the arm (no pun intended) when the Stargate joint venture project was announced shortly after President Trump took office. Arm was named as one of five key initial technology partners, along with Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and OpenAI, for the new venture, which pledges to invest at least $100 billion in new AI infrastructure. Arm already partners directly on components with Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle, and OpenAI uses its technology. Softbank, which is Arm's majority owner, is also the key financial partner for the project, and Softbank's influence across the tech world shouldn't be overlooked by investors. In fact, Softbank, OpenAI, and Arm have also partnered on an AI project in Japan called Cristal Intelligence, whose goal is to develop Advanced Enterprise AI. At the heart of Cristal Intelligence is an investment in AI agents that perform tasks without human assistance, and those agents will require increasing compute power as they scale up. That's where Arm plays a key role as its architecture is the most effective at conserving power, and that advantage will continue to drive its adoption in the AI era. So far, the vast majority of AI spending has taken place at the data center where hyperscalers and other tech companies are spending billions on Nvidia GPUs. Arm has benefited from that growth as its Grace CPUs are in Nvidia's Grace Hopper and Grace Blackwell Superchips. It also licenses its technology to the major cloud computing companies for their own chips, including Amazon's Graviton, Microsoft Cobalt, and Google Axion. Arm's market share in the cloud has increased from 9% to 15% in the last two years, and the market value of that opportunity has risen from $16 billion to $21 billion. However, Arm's biggest opportunity in AI could be at the edge, meaning devices that are being used directly by consumers including handheld electronics like smartphones, automobiles, appliances, and robotics. This is Arm's traditional strength as devices that run on a battery tend to use Arm-based chips since they're better at conserving power. Edge AI, which includes technologies like Apple Intelligence, is expected to grow significantly over the coming years, and that will favor Arm. Arm has a unique business model in the semiconductor industry. It licenses its technology and then collects royalties when the chips containing that technology are sold. As a result, there's a lag between license revenue and royalties beginning to be earned from that license of two to three years, but royalty revenue collected from a single license can continue for over a decade. In fact, half of Arm's current royalty revenue comes from products launched 10 years ago or more. While the company is benefiting from the AI revolution, the payoff will come over a long period of time rather than in a handful of quarters as it has for Nvidia. Arm's revenue growth of 19% in the third quarter might seem modest for a stock with its valuation, but it's paying the way for a boom over the next decade especially as new chips like its v9 and compute subsystems (CSS) command a higher royalty rate than older chips. Between its leading CPU architecture, relationships with cloud hyperscalers, and promising royalty pipeline, Arm is a must-own stock for the AI boom. Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you'll want to hear this. On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a 'Double Down' stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you're worried you've already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it's too late. And the numbers speak for themselves: Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you'd have $340,048!* Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you'd have $44,908!* Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you'd have $554,019!* Right now, we're issuing 'Double Down' alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.*Stock Advisor returns as of February 3, 2025 Jeremy Bowman has positions in Arm Holdings. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Reasons Arm Holdings Is a Must-Buy for Long-Term Investors was originally published by The Motley Fool
