SoftBank disclosed Tuesday its full exit from semiconductor manufacturer Nvidia through an October sale of 32.1 million shares worth $5.83 billion, enabling the Japanese investment firm to fund its artificial intelligence ventures including a $22.5 billion OpenAI stake. The company simultaneously liquidated a T-Mobile portion generating $9.17 billion, with Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto characterizing both moves as "asset monetization" designed to maintain "We want to provide a lot of investment opportunities for investors, while we can still maintain financial strength," according to CNBC.
Nvidia shares declined 0.95% in premarket trading following the announcement, which contributed to SoftBank's doubled fiscal second-quarter profits alongside a $19 billion Vision Fund gain. The chipmaker exit marks SoftBank's second divestment from Nvidia since initially accumulating a $4 billion position in 2017 before selling in January 2019, though the Tokyo-based firm maintains operational ties through AI ventures including the $500 billion Stargate data center project, CNBC reported.
New Street Research analyst Rolf Bulk told CNBC the sale should be interpreted not as skepticism toward Nvidia but rather "in the context of SoftBank needing at least $30.5B of capital for investments in the Oct-Dec quarter, including $22.5B for OpenAI and $6.5B for Ampere" – representing "more in a single quarter than it has invested in aggregate over the two prior years combined."
SoftBank's Vision Fund generated its $19 billion quarterly gain primarily through OpenAI and electronic payment service PayPay investments as the vehicle aggressively expanded across artificial intelligence technologies from semiconductors to language models and robotics. Goto credited the timing of SoftBank's initial OpenAI investment in September of the previous year for the results, noting the startup's $500 billion valuation ranks among the world's highest, CNBC reported.
The Japanese conglomerate experienced recent stock volatility amid broader market concerns about artificial intelligence valuations, prompting Goto to tell shareholders Tuesday: "Our share price recently has been going up and down dynamically… we want to provide as many invest opportunities as possible." The company's announced four-for-one stock split aims to expand shareholder investment access, according to CNBC.
