Masayoshi Son admits he “was crying” when SoftBank Group liquidated its entire Nvidia position last month. Rather than a lack of conviction, the $5.83 billion sale was driven by an urgent need for liquidity to fund a substantial bet on OpenAI.
Speaking at the FII Priority Asia forum in Tokyo, the CEO dismissed market fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble. He argued that selling the chipmaker was the only way to bankroll the capital-intensive “Stargate” infrastructure project.
The ‘Tearful’ Exit: Liquidity Over Loyalty
Far from a vote of no confidence, the sale represents a painful tactical retreat for the Japanese conglomerate. SoftBank liquidated its holdings in November, generating $5.83 billion in proceeds. Son revealed the emotional toll of the decision during his Tokyo appearance.
“I was crying to sell Nvidia shares.”
Despite the windfall, the executive insisted the move was not a strategic rejection of Nvidia’s roadmap. While Son’s emotional attachment to the chipmaker remains strong, his fiduciary duty demanded a reallocation of resources. To participate in the next phase of AI infrastructure, SoftBank required immediate liquidity that only a sale of its best-performing asset could provide.
“I don’t want to sell a single share. I just had more need for money to invest in OpenAI and other projects.”
Proceeds are immediately earmarked for “next” stage investments, specifically deepening ties with OpenAI. This creates a financial paradox for the group. SoftBank recently reported a significant $16.6 billion quarterly net profit, but this figure was largely driven by unrealized valuation gains.
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To fund actual infrastructure like the Stargate project, the company needed cash rather than paper wealth. This necessitated the sale of its most liquid asset. Reminiscent of past missteps, the exit echoes SoftBank’s previous premature exit from Nvidia in 2019, which cost the firm billions in missed upside.
The ‘Bubble’ Defense: A $20 Trillion Justification
While the market frets over frothy valuations, Son sees a mathematical inevitability. He used the Tokyo stage to aggressively push back against growing “AI bubble” narratives.
“People who talk about a bubble are not smart enough.”
Central to his economic thesis is the expected emergence of Artificial Superintelligence (ASI). Son outlines a future economy radically transformed by automation, where intelligent agents contribute a staggering portion of global economic output.
With global GDP currently around $100 trillion, his forecast implies a $10-20 trillion annual contribution from automated systems. Son frames the trillions in spending as a drop in the bucket compared to future value:
“Super [artificial] intelligence and AI robots will generate at least 10% of global gross domestic product over the long term.”
This projection serves as the justification for the company’s aggressive asset rotation. Even if infrastructure costs run into the trillions, the potential returns from dominating the ASI substrate would theoretically dwarf the initial outlay.
Strategic Context: Buying the ‘Age of Research’
Underpinning this capital rotation is a belief that the industry is undergoing a fundamental phase shift. Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever believes the sector is moving from the “Age of Scaling” to the Age of Research.
Under this assumption, simply buying more GPUs is no longer enough. Such a shift demands specialized infrastructure capable of supporting complex reasoning models. SoftBank is pivoting from a passive investor to an active infrastructure builder via Project Stargate.
The Stargate partnership with OpenAI and Oracle, aims to build 5 gigawatts of compute capacity. This requires “sovereign AI” levels of funding, which liquid stock holdings cannot provide. By moving into physical data centers and energy, SoftBank is attempting to verticalize its AI bet. Vertical integration risks transforming the firm from an asset-light software investor into a capital-intensive utility operator.
Market Reality: The Risks of Rotation
Compounding the risk is the nature of the asset swap. Investors reacted with skepticism to the news, sending SoftBank Group shares down 2% following the speech. Traders remain wary of trading highly liquid, proven Nvidia stock for illiquid, speculative OpenAI equity.
This comes as Nvidia itself faces Google’s and other hyperscaler’s strategy of developing custom chips. The giant has responded to these threats with a statement emphasizing its ubiquity.
“NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry , it’s the only platform that runs every AI model and does it everywhere computing is done.”
Despite these assurances, the competitive landscape is shifting. Nvidia’s defensive posture suggests genuine concern over the rise of Google’s TPUs and potential defections by major clients like Meta.
Simultaneously, OpenAI is facing its own internal challenges. Son is effectively “top-ticking” the market on Nvidia to double down on a private company facing a cash burn crisis. Ultimately, the transaction represents a classic Masayoshi Son gamble: betting the entire house on a singular vision of the future, regardless of current market signals.