SoftBank has divested its Nvidia holdings worth $5.8 billion to increase funding for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The shift highlights SoftBank’s evolving strategy toward AI innovation rather than hardware infrastructure.
The company’s quarterly results showed net profits more than doubling to 2.5 trillion yen, driven by valuation gains from AI-related holdings. The Japanese investor also trimmed its T-Mobile stake to free up capital for OpenAI.
CFO Yoshimitsu Goto told reporters that SoftBank’s OpenAI commitment would exceed $30 billion this year. “We’re reinvesting in the future of intelligence,” he said. “Our decision to sell Nvidia is part of that transition.”
Nvidia shares fell 3.5% following the announcement, dragging other chip stocks lower. Arm and Micron both dropped more than 5% in early trading, reflecting wider concerns about AI-sector volatility.
While Nvidia remains a critical supplier to AI infrastructure, SoftBank’s move illustrates how major investors are increasingly favoring software ecosystems like OpenAI that drive user applications and innovation directly.