Latest news with #Son
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Masayoshi Son hints at succession plan while chasing AI ambition
Masayoshi Son acknowledged the outlines of a succession plan at SoftBank Group Corp ., addressing what may be investors' single biggest concern regarding the long-term future of the Japanese company. Son said he plans to hold SoftBank's reins another ten years, but added he has several candidates for its next chief in mind from within the technology group. The candidates work alongside the billionaire every day, although he hasn't disclosed who they are to anyone, the 67-year-old said during a general shareholders' meeting in Tokyo on Friday. Son fielded repeated questions from shareholders worried about a SoftBank without its charismatic leader or a succession plan. The chief executive officer responded that he's healthy and intends to continue to lead and aim to realize an era where artificial intelligence is pervasive in society. 'I look forward to seeing a successor grow as quickly as possible so that I can appoint them, but I still have some passion left and want to keep at this,' he said. Son added, however, that he's mentally prepared to hand over the reins at any time, should he stand in the way of SoftBank's growth. He mentioned the head of telecom unit, Junichi Miyakawa, who is in charge of rolling out AI infrastructure within Japan and widely seen as an example of how others in the company can lead as Son shifts his focus elsewhere. Miyakawa is doing 'an extremely solid job,' Son said. 'I feel very pleased, encouraged and reassured by his efforts. As a result, I have almost never felt the need to interfere in what he does. I trust him.' SoftBank's shares rose to close up 2.5%, buoyed by a broader rally that boosted the Nikkei Stock Average. Past lieutenants who have been officially or unofficially in the running to be Son's successor have included Nikesh Arora, Marcelo Claure and Katsunori Sago. All have left SoftBank. One shareholder even asked if AI would either extend Son's lifespan or make it possible for Son to somehow remotely control the company from beyond the grave. Son responded by saying that while he intends to use AI 'more than anyone,' he didn't see it replacing him. The annual shareholders' meeting has long been a platform for Son to share his vision of a future of tech-driven progress. Many investors have hung onto his words and their shares from before the dot-com boom and bust. Shareholders asked about SoftBank's ability to finance big bets such as the Stargate data center projects, and Son's ability to deliver on his goals to lead in an age of AI. One such project is a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build a large AI manufacturing hub in Arizona, Bloomberg reported earlier. Son said he's now cornered key artificial intelligence chip architecture and seeks to become the world's top platform by the time AI surpasses human abilities — or what he and other AI proponents call artificial super-intelligence. 'We want to become the world's top platformer for ASI,' he said, adding that it'll be a winner-take-all arena. SoftBank controls chip designer Arm Holdings Plc and plans to invest as much as $30 billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI . 'These are indispensable for ASI,' he said, noting also that SoftBank has acquired Graphcore Ltd. and has plans to buy Ampere Computing LLC. 'I'm all in.'
Economic Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Masayoshi Son hints at succession plan while chasing AI ambition
Reuters SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Masayoshi Son acknowledged the outlines of a succession plan at SoftBank Group Corp., addressing what may be investors' single biggest concern regarding the long-term future of the Japanese said he plans to hold SoftBank's reins another ten years, but added he has several candidates for its next chief in mind from within the technology group. The candidates work alongside the billionaire every day, although he hasn't disclosed who they are to anyone, the 67-year-old said during a general shareholders' meeting in Tokyo on Friday. Son fielded repeated questions from shareholders worried about a SoftBank without its charismatic leader or a succession plan. The chief executive officer responded that he's healthy and intends to continue to lead and aim to realize an era where artificial intelligence is pervasive in society. 'I look forward to seeing a successor grow as quickly as possible so that I can appoint them, but I still have some passion left and want to keep at this,' he said. Son added, however, that he's mentally prepared to hand over the reins at any time, should he stand in the way of SoftBank's mentioned the head of telecom unit, Junichi Miyakawa, who is in charge of rolling out AI infrastructure within Japan and widely seen as an example of how others in the company can lead as Son shifts his focus elsewhere. Miyakawa is doing 'an extremely solid job,' Son said. 'I feel very pleased, encouraged and reassured by his efforts. As a result, I have almost never felt the need to interfere in what he does. I trust him.'SoftBank's shares rose to close up 2.5%, buoyed by a broader rally that boosted the Nikkei Stock lieutenants who have been officially or unofficially in the running to be Son's successor have included Nikesh Arora, Marcelo Claure and Katsunori Sago. All have left shareholder even asked if AI would either extend Son's lifespan or make it possible for Son to somehow remotely control the company from beyond the grave. Son responded by saying that while he intends to use AI 'more than anyone,' he didn't see it replacing annual shareholders' meeting has long been a platform for Son to share his vision of a future of tech-driven progress. Many investors have hung onto his words and their shares from before the dot-com boom and asked about SoftBank's ability to finance big bets such as the Stargate data center projects, and Son's ability to deliver on his goals to lead in an age of such project is a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to build a large AI manufacturing hub in Arizona, Bloomberg reported earlier. Son said he's now cornered key artificial intelligence chip architecture and seeks to become the world's top platform by the time AI surpasses human abilities — or what he and other AI proponents call artificial super-intelligence. 'We want to become the world's top platformer for ASI,' he said, adding that it'll be a winner-take-all arena. SoftBank controls chip designer Arm Holdings Plc and plans to invest as much as $30 billion in ChatGPT maker OpenAI. 'These are indispensable for ASI,' he said, noting also that SoftBank has acquired Graphcore Ltd. and has plans to buy Ampere Computing LLC. 'I'm all in.' Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. The bike taxi dreams of Rapido, Uber, and Ola just got a jolt. But they're winning public favour Second only to L&T, but controversies may weaken this infra powerhouse's growth story Punit Goenka reloads Zee with Bullet and OTT focus. Can he beat mighty rivals? 3 critical hurdles in India's quest for rare earth independence HDB Financial may be cheaper than Bajaj Fin, but what about returns? Why Sebi must give up veto power over market infra institutions These large- and mid-cap stocks can give more than 23% return in 1 year, according to analysts Are short-term headwinds from China an opportunity? 8 auto stocks: Time to be contrarian? Buy, Sell or Hold: Motilal Oswal initiates coverage on Supreme Industries; UBS initiates coverage on PNB Housing
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Amazon takes a big hit in the AI talent wars
Another day and another spicy development in the AI talent wars! Meta Platform's (META) Scale AI deal kicked the AI talent war into overdrive, and other tech giants are following suit. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter It's an AI hiring spree, and some of the finest tech talent could rake in record-breaking AI research salaries. Lately, if a tech giant misses the boat, that's essentially letting Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook fortune write checks to poach their best generative AI talent. Needless to say, the scramble is only getting more ruthless. Bloomberg/Getty Images Over the past few months, we've seen the hunt for the top AI researchers and engineers has turned into a full-blown AI talent war. Related: Gemini, ChatGPT may lose the AI war to deep-pocketed rival Big tech has been itching for what seems like a small pool of people who can push generative models, large language systems, and next-gen AI forward. Breakthrough AI, including lifelike chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok, has made it crucial to lock down top talent fast. Meta, in particular, has been especially aggressive in chasing top AI talent. Just this month, it snagged three senior researchers from OpenAI's Zurich lab, including Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai. This comes just weeks after CEO Sam Altman blasted Meta for offering nine-figure offers to poach his team. Meanwhile, Meta locked in a massive deal with Scale AI, dropping $14.8 billion for a 49% nonvoting stake. More importantly, that deal gives Meta direct access to Scale's 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, to help turn its artificial general intelligence dream into a reality. The massive Scale AI acquisition underscored the importance of valuable, top-notch, human-labeled data. Meta's big bet highlights that owning the data pipeline matters; it could potentially gain a decisive edge in building those flashy generative AI models. Meta's moves have already shaken up the whole tech space. Google's looking to cut ties with Scale to keep Meta out of its training secrets, and Microsoft's bringing in its data labeling in-house. More Tech Stock News: Circle's stock price surges after stunning CEO commentVeteran analyst drops bold new call on Nvidia stockAnalyst reboots AMD stock price target on chip update Even startups like Anthropic and xAI are looking to scoop up the best talent in competing against the big guys. According to a Reuters report, Vasi Philomin, a vice president of generative AI at Amazon (AMZN) , has left the company. Philomin told Reuters he's headed to another company without any specifics. Related: Veteran Tesla bull drops surprising 3-word verdict on robotaxi ride Philomin was one of the major forces behind Amazon Titan and Bedrock, spending eight years shaping strategy. These pillars have become critical in Amazon Web Services' push to make AI plug-and-play for any customer. Moreover, he also helped the tech giant launch Nova for multimodal tasks and Sonic for lifelike speech, keeping pace with ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok. He also helped plug Anthropic's Claude (from Amazon's $8 billion Anthropic investment) into Alexa, showing off Amazon's powerful playbook. Philomin's exit comes at a time when the top AI talent turns into tech's priciest prize. The top tech leaders are reportedly using sports-style scouting to find hidden talent and dropping $100 million signing bonuses to attract talent. For Amazon, losing one of its key AI architects is a big wake-up call. Despite pouring billions into big-name deals and research efforts, Amazon is at risk of its rivals snapping up its generative AI talent. Though Rajesh Sheth (formerly of Elastic Block Store) is already handling the bulk of Philomin's work, the need for a deep bench of AI leaders ready to shape models, products, and strategy is as imperative as ever. Big picture? Philomin's move is just another sign that the top minds in the AI space hold all the cards right now. Related: Veteran analyst drops bold new call on Nvidia stock The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
SoftBank aims to become leading 'artificial super intelligence' platform provider
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said on Friday that he wants the investment group to become the biggest platform provider for " artificial super intelligence " within the next 10 years. "We want to become the organiser of the industry in the artificial super intelligence era," Son told shareholders at the group's annual shareholder meeting. Son likened his aim to the position of dominant technology platform providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet's Google, who benefit from a "winner takes all" dynamic. At previous public appearances Son has described artificial super intelligence as exceeding human capabilities by a factor of 10,000. The technology investment group has returned to making the aggressive investments that made Son's name and fortune, such as an early bet on Alibaba , but at times spectacularly backfired, like failed shared office provider WeWork. SoftBank's mammoth investments related to artificial intelligence in 2025 include acquiring U.S. semiconductor design company Ampere for $6.5 billion and the underwriting of up to $40 billion of new investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI . Son said Softbank's total agreed investment in OpenAI now stood at $32 billion and that he expected OpenAI to eventually list publicly. "I'm all in on OpenAI," Son said.
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
SoftBank's Son lays out vision to be No. 1 in artificial superintelligence
TOKYO—SoftBank's founder wants to make his company the world leader in artificial superintelligence—a hypothetical form of AI that is smarter than humans—within the next 10 years. 'I am betting all in on the world of ASI," SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said at an annual shareholder meeting held in Tokyo on Friday. In the next decade, Son thinks only a handful of companies will reap the benefits from the around 600 trillion yen, equivalent to $4.155 trillion, of profit to be made from ASI. A key part of Son's strategy is strengthening the Japanese technology investment company's relationship with OpenAI. SoftBank will have invested up to $32 billion in OpenAI by the end of this year, the CEO said, making it one of the largest single investments ever made in a private company. In February, the two companies announced a plan to set up a joint venture to provide major Japanese companies with advanced enterprise AI called 'Cristal intelligence," which helps automate and autonomize tasks and work flows. 'OpenAI will eventually go public and become the most valuable company on Earth," Son said, expecting a listing to happen in the next few years. SoftBank, which has backed high-profile tech names such as Alibaba and Arm, has been stepping up its push into AI. Last July, it acquired U.K.-based AI chip maker Graphcore, and this year it announced the acquisition of U.S. semiconductor design company Ampere Computing in a $6.5 billion deal. Earlier this year, SoftBank and OpenAI announced a joint project called Stargate to build infrastructure for the ChatGPT maker. Database company Oracle and MGX, an investor backed by the United Arab Emirates, are also equity partners in the venture. The companies have pledged to invest up to $500 billion in Stargate over the next four years. SoftBank's investment plans have come under scrutiny as Japan tries to close a deal with the Trump administration, which is looking to fill a trade gap and invite more foreign investment into the U.S. to protect the economy. Asked by a shareholder about his relationship with President Trump, Son said he has often visited the White House and emphasized the importance of working closely with the U.S. administration. 'America is the world's largest AI hub and the technical epicenter of this revolution," Son said. 'America is where the greatest opportunities lie." News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI. Write to Megumi Fujikawa at
