SoftBank in talks to invest as much as $25B in OpenAI, report says

SoftBank may invest up to $25B in OpenAI, surpassing Microsoft as top backer.

: SoftBank is considering a $25 billion investment in OpenAI, potentially becoming its largest supporter over Microsoft. This move follows plans for both companies to invest heavily in the Stargate data center project. OpenAI faces issues with DeepSeek, which allegedly used its models unlawfully.

SoftBank is in discussions to invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI, marking a shift in backing dominance from Microsoft, which had been a significant investor. This potential deal would constitute SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's largest investment since WeWork, reducing OpenAI's reliance on Microsoft's computing resources.

The investment discussion is timely, coinciding with OpenAI and SoftBank's previous announcement of a joint $100 billion investment in the Stargate data center project. This project is planned to expand to $500 billion over the next four years, with SoftBank contributing between $15 billion and $25 billion to OpenAI directly, alongside its Stargate equity commitment.

Market tensions have arisen with DeepSeek's release of models developed on a smaller budget using OpenAI's proprietary techniques via distillation. OpenAI claims this breaches its terms, as such methods threaten the competitive edge of larger AI hardware investments, evidenced by Nvidia's substantial market fluctuation following DeepSeek's release.

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