Japan’s SoftBank group has sold its entire stake of 32.1 million shares in US chipmaker Nvidia for $5.8 billion as it reported that its quarterly net profit had more than doubled.
The Japanese technology-investment firm, which logged a net profit of 2.5 trillion yen ($16.2 billion), sold the shares to Nvidia in October, while also disclosing that it had sold part of its T-Mobile stake for $9.17 billion.
SoftBank logged a net profit of 2.5 trillion yen ($16.2 billion) in July-September.
Despite its latest exit, SoftBank is involved in a number of Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects that are linked to Nvidia’s technology, including a $500 billion Stargate project for data centres in the US, CNBC reported.
In 2017 too, SoftBank’s Vision Fund had backed Nvidia, reportedly amassing a $4 billion stake in 2017 before it sold all of its holdings in early 2019.
Separately, SoftBank has been leading an investment of up to $40 billion in OpenAI, with plans to syndicate out $10 billion to co-investors.
On Tuesday, SoftBank said co-investors had committed to the entire syndication amount, and that it will invest an additional $22.5 billion in OpenAI through its Vision Fund 2 in December.
In fact, SoftBank has reportedly planned a $30 billion injection into OpenAI, which is also a part of the StarGate project, and a proposed $6.5 billion acquisition of chip designer Ampere Computing LLC, according to Bloomberg.
Making further advances in the world of AI, SoftBank has also agreed to acquire Swiss giant ABB’s robotics business for $5.4 billion, attempting to merge the potential of AI and robotics.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is also pursuing partnerships with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which is the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, and others on a potential $1 trillion AI manufacturing hub in the US, according to reports.