Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s billionaire CEO and co-founder, plans to raise $100 billion for his AI chip manufacturing project to compete with Nvidia.
Son Heung-min named his new venture Izanagi after the Japanese god of creation and life. Chairman Son said he wants to become a person who designs “what the future of humanity will be,” and that the “AI revolution” is something SoftBank wants to lead.
AI processing relies on huge quantities of chips, there is a severe supply shortage and market leader NVIDIA is struggling to keep up with demand. Softbank owns a 90% stake in British chipmaker Arm and plans to use it to enter AI chip manufacturing.
The $100 billion investment could include $30 billion from SoftBank and the remainder from an unnamed Middle Eastern investor. The United States previously banned NVIDIA from supplying to some companies in the Middle East over perceived Chinese influence in the region.
The last three letters of Project Izanagi’s name are also a nod to the pursuit of AGI. Based on Arm’s development roadmap, Son said AI will eventually “have at least 10,000 times more than the sum of the world’s wisdom.”
Professor Son said that if AI superintelligence is implemented, “it will be the birth of a life form that far surpasses humanity” and “it will solve problems that humanity cannot solve.” Son believes that progress toward the expected AI utopia must be accelerated by creating more AI chips.
Masayoshi Son is raising $100 billion for a chip venture that will compete with Nvidia.
The code name of the project is ‘Izanagi’.
“It will be the birth of a life form that far surpasses humanity.” pic.twitter.com/zdoMf1GK6F
— Chief AI Officer (@chiefaioffice) February 18, 2024
“A happier, more connected world” sounds great, and investors love the idea. SoftBank shares are up about 30% in the past two weeks, while Arm’s shares are up more than 80%.
SoftBank declined to sell its Arm stake to NVIDIA in 2022, which appears to have been a wise decision now as demand for its chips continues to grow. Son has previously discussed the possibility of collaborating with Sam Altman on a $1 trillion chip project, but has said nothing about the companies’ plans to work together.
Will the ultra-smart, self-replicating AI that Son envisions bring about the utopian future he envisions, or the end of humanity that AI doomsayers predict? Either way, Son’s Izanagi project will get us there faster.
