SoftBank asks Gulf investors for up to $100 billion for a new AI fund
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is seeking up to $100 billion from Gulf investors to finance a new fund that would buy companies and rebuild their operations around artificial intelligence, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the discussions. Son has held talks in recent weeks with senior figures in the United Arab Emirates. The discussions are early and no commitments have been secured.
The proposed vehicle differs from SoftBank’s existing bets. Rather than backing AI developers directly, it would acquire established businesses and use AI, including robotics from SoftBank’s arm Roze, to change how they operate. For Gulf wealth funds weighing an allocation, the question is whether that buy-and-upgrade model can produce returns that the first Vision Fund, despite roughly $29 billion in cumulative gains by the end of June, took nearly a decade to show.
The ask comes at a delicate moment for SoftBank’s finances. The company has invested almost $65 billion in OpenAI, including a $30 billion follow-on earlier this year that gave it a 13 percent stake. To fund that commitment it completed the largest high-yield corporate bond sale on record last month, raising more than $11 billion at yields as high as 9.75 percent. This week SoftBank shares fell as much as 7.3 percent in Tokyo after reports that OpenAI’s annualized revenue is about $20 billion lower than previously signaled. The ChatGPT developer has also pushed back its IPO.
Gulf investors are the natural but not guaranteed source. Mubadala and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund anchored the first $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX and G42 have become leading AI-era allocators. The FT reported that representatives for MGX and G42 did not respond to requests for comment, and SoftBank declined to comment. The region is also under strain: Bloomberg noted Son is courting capital from economies facing possible contraction as the Iran war enters its eighth month.
The FT’s report puts a specific number on how much outside money SoftBank’s AI strategy now needs. The company’s own funds have posted gains, with Vision Fund 2 at $20.5 billion, but the balance sheet is doing heavy lifting: an $11 billion bond sale, a $10 billion borrowing plan backed by its OpenAI stake, and earlier margin loans against Arm shares. Turning to sovereign capital rather than more debt suggests borrowing costs have become the binding constraint.
For now, the $100 billion is a request, not a fund. The next verifiable marker is whether any Gulf institution confirms participation. Until then, neither SoftBank nor the potential allocators named in the report have committed a dollar.
This report is based on the Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg and related coverage; figures reflect the reported claims of people familiar with the discussions, which remain unconfirmed by SoftBank.
