SoftBank, OpenAI agree to set up joint venture for AI services
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said Monday that his tech investment company and artificial intelligence giant OpenAI have agreed to establish a joint venture to promote AI services for corporations, Kyodo reports.

The new 50-50 venture, named SB OpenAI Japan, will utilize massive quantities of data stored in systems of client companies and offer optimal management solutions, Son said in a speech at an event in Tokyo.
"We will launch from Japan the world's first advanced AI services for large corporations," Son said, adding that they plan to expand AI use in the future to the government and other areas such as the medical and educational sectors.
Joining Son at the event, Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, expressed excitement about the new project, saying, "We have been talking about doing this for so long."
The two companies said last month that they will form a new company with Oracle Corp., which will invest at least $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States under the Stargate Project.
Calling SB OpenAI Japan the Japanese version of the Stargate Project, Son said SoftBank will become the venture's first customer and pay around $3 billion annually to utilize the services across its group, which includes mobile payment service operator PayPay Corp.
SoftBank will also dispatch about 1,000 employees to the new company to help launch the new service, while OpenAI will send some engineers, he said.
SoftBank Group has in recent years been focusing on investment in AI startups. The company has been ramping up efforts to build AI infrastructure in Japan, unveiling a plan to construct a data center for AI development in Osaka while setting up another one in Hokkaido.
Earlier it was reported that Elon Musk criticized Donald Trump’s massive AI infrastructure plan backed by SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and others.