SoftBank’s Son Says AI Will Need $5 Trillion in Annual Investment by 2040
Synopsis
Masayoshi Son says artificial intelligence will require unprecedented investment over the next 15 years, arguing the sector's rapid growth is far from a speculative bubble.
Key Highlights
- Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, said AI will need $5 trillion of investment a year by 2040.
- Son dismissed the idea that AI is in a bubble and called it “the most absurd thing I ever heard of.
- He said global GDP could be artificially intelligent (AI) by 20% in 2040.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said developing artificial intelligence will take 5 trillion dollars (800 trillion yen) in annual investment over the next two decades, and dismissed worries that there is an AI bubble.
Softbank founder Son said at SoftBank World 2026 in Tokyo that the size of investment will be justified if AI accounts for 20 percent of global GDP by 2040. In the last two years, SoftBank has invested tens of billions of dollars into OpenAI, funded AI data centres and backed robotics companies as it aims to become a leading AI platform.
SoftBank Expands AI Investment Strategy
OpenAI is expected to be SoftBank’s largest AI investment with a cumulative investment of more than US$60 billion by the End of 2026.
Son has developed a reputation for investments in nascent technologies, including early-stage investments in Alibaba and the introduction of Apple’s iPhone to Japan. But WeWork was among a series of investments that didn’t produce the hoped-for returns.
Investors are worried if the sector can produce returns to justify the large spike in valuations for AI companies and infrastructure spending.
According to Son, AI data centres would need 3 terawatts of power generation by 2040, the equivalent of 1.8 times global current demand for electricity. AI infrastructure would primarily depend on gas-powered energy at the start, and only after nuclear fusion becomes the dominant form of energy you can see as per him.
Agent-Based AI World by 2040
Son also shared his 2040 vision of a world where more than 100 trillion AI agents are making independent decisions, completing tasks and communicating with each other.
He stated that this change would take society from a human-centred model, to an agent-centric world as AI developed further.
Source: Reuters
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