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SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”), a member of E2A Consortium, announced it agreed to initiate construction of a new submarine cable system, “E2A,” that will connect Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. The consortium selected Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) to build a state-of-the-art transpacific fiber optic network that spans approximately 12,500km and is designed to significantly enhance digital connectivity between Asia and North America.  With the surge in demand driven by cloud computing, data processing and next-generation mobile networks, the need for ultra-high-capacity, low-latency infrastructure has never been greater. The E2A represents a major step forward in global communications, delivering unprecedented performance, scalability, and reliability, while integrating sustainability-driven design principles. Crossing the Pacific Ocean, the E2A submarine cable system will link major digital hubs in Asia and North America, with landings in Maru...

 (TOKYO, Japan) and (Santa Clara, CA) – SoftBank Group Corp. (TSE: 9984, “SoftBank Group”) today announced that it will acquire Ampere® Computing, a leading independent silicon design company, in an all-cash transaction valued at $6.5 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Ampere will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group and retain its name. As part of the transaction, Ampere’s lead investors – Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) – are selling their respective positions in Ampere. As SoftBank Group broadens its AI infrastructure investments in ventures such as Cristal intelligence and Stargate, the acquisition will help enhance SoftBank Group’s capabilities in key areas and accelerate its growth initiatives. “The future of Artificial Super Intelligence requires breakthrough computing power,” said Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. “Ampere’s expertise in semiconductors and high-performance computing will...

OpenAI and the SoftBank Group has announced a partnership to develop and market Advanced Enterprise AI called “Cristal intelligence.” Cristal intelligence will securely integrate the systems and data of individual enterprises in a way that is customized specifically for each company. SoftBank Group Corp. will spend $3 billion US annually to deploy OpenAI’s solutions across its group companies, making it the first company in the world to integrate Cristal intelligence at scale, as well as deploying existing tools like ChatGPT Enterprise to employees across the entire group. Furthermore, to accelerate the deployment of Cristal intelligence customized for Japan-based companies, OpenAI and the SoftBank Group agreed to establish a joint venture (JV) company called "SB OpenAI Japan." This JV will market Cristal intelligence exclusively to major companies in Japan.  Details of This Partnership A Vision to Transform Industry with Cristal intelligence In 2024, OpenAI la...

  Please note Q3 net income loss due to USD liabilities and the weak yen; year to date Q1 to Q3 cumulative net income is overall positive.    

System spans approximately 10,000 kilometers, connecting China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam Tokyo - SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) announced it has finished construction of the Asia Direct Cable (ADC), a high-performance submarine cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR and Guangdong Province), Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. SoftBank began operating the ADC on December 2024. The ADC submarine cable is owned by the ADC Consortium and features multiple pairs of high-capacity optical fibers. It is designed to carry more than 160 Tbps of traffic, enabling the high-capacity transmission of data across the East and Southeast Asian regions. The new cable represents a significant achievement as the latest Intra-Asia cable connecting China (Hong Kong SAR), Japan and Singapore in the past eight years, providing essential infrastructure to support the burgeoning traffic demand in the region and opening up new avenues for communic...

The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world. This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies. The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman. Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating p...

Mon 16 Dec 2024 - SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son has jointly announced a $100 billion investment plan in USA with President-elect Donald Trump during a visit today to his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. The Japanese billionaire investor and founder of the Vision Fund targets to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and other leading edge technologies. The money will be deployed over Trump’s four year term.  

SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) announced it developed a traffic understanding multimodal AI* designed for remote support of autonomous driving, designed to operate on low-latency edge AI servers with the goal of achieving fully unmanned operations. The traffic understanding multimodal AI aims to address key challenges in the social implementation of autonomous driving by enhancing vehicle safety and reducing operational costs through external support. By running the multimodal AI in real time on SoftBank's MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) and other edge AI servers with low latency and high security, the system enables real-time understanding of autonomous vehicle status, providing reliable remote support for autonomous driving. In October 2024, SoftBank launched a field trial of this remote support solution for autonomous driving using the traffic understanding multimodal AI at the Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (location: Fujisawa, Kanagawa, “SFC”). This experiment aims to v...

    *ASI refers to Artificial Super Intelligence

SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434, President & CEO: Junichi Miyakawa, “SoftBank”) today announced that its “Sunglider” — a large-scale solar-powered uncrewed aircraft system (“UAS”) designed for High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) stratospheric telecommunications — was utilized in a field trial conducted by AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV, “AeroVironment”) and the US Department of Defense (“DoD”) in New Mexico, USA, in early August 2024. During the trial Sunglider succeeded in achieving stratospheric flight. Sunglider is a large-scale UAS for HAPS. It is larger than other publicly announced HAPS UAS*, with a wingspan of 78m and the capability to carry payloads weighing up to 75kg. That means its ability to deliver stable, high-speed and robust high-capacity mobile connectivity is a key feature. The Sunglider aircraft used in this stratospheric field trial was an improved version that incorporated structural and functional enhancements to enable better performance than the previous one...

Sept 2024 - SoftBank Corp. (“SoftBank”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nokia Corporation (“Nokia”) for joint research on cutting-edge communication technologies on September 10, 2024. This agreement scope includes the development of a communication system that utilizes AI aimed at the development of AI-RAN*1 and 6G technology. Specifically, the companies plan to collaborate on the development of AI-RAN using Nokia's virtualized Radio Access Network (Cloud RAN) platform and conduct field testing using centimeter waves*2, which are expected to be utilized for 6G. The innovative, next-generation communication system enabled by AI-RAN and 6G could bring fundamental changes to societies and economies by providing faster and highly flexible wider-range connectivity. It could also open up possibilities for the development of smart cities, industrial automation, and even the creation of new business models. Under the agreement, SoftBank, leveraging its deep knowledge and e...