The Deep View: SoftBank is building an AI warchest


SoftBank is building an AI warchest
SoftBank might be deepening its ties with OpenAI. The Japanese investment giant is in talks to borrow $5 billion from global banks for a margin loan secured by its shares in chipmaker Arm, aiming to fund additional investments in OpenAI, Bloomberg reported on Friday
It marks the latest in a string of major AI investments by SoftBank as the company aims to capitalize on the technology’s boom. Last week, the firm announced its $5.4 billion acquisition of the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB. It also acquired Ampere Computing, a semiconductor company, in March for $6.5 billion.
But perhaps the biggest beneficiary of SoftBank’s largesse has been OpenAI. 
The model maker raised $40 billion in a funding round in late March, the biggest private funding round in history, with SoftBank investing $30 billion as its primary backer. The companies are also working side by side on Project Stargate, a $500 billion AI data center buildout aimed at bolstering the tech’s development in the U.S. 
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has long espoused his vision for Artificial Super Intelligence, or “AI that is ten thousand times more intelligent than human wisdom,” and has targeted a few central areas in driving that charge: AI chips, robots, data centers, and energy, along with continued investment in generative AI.
With OpenAI’s primary mission being its dedication to the development of artificial general intelligence, SoftBank may see the firm as central to its goal.

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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