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SoftBank Sells Its OpenAI Stake to Nvidia, Shifting the AI Landscape

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  Published in Stocks and Investing on Monday, December 1st 2025 at 12:03 GMT by Business Insider

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SoftBank sells its OpenAI stake to Nvidia – a pivotal shift in the AI landscape

In a surprising move that has reverberated across the tech and investment communities, SoftBank’s Vision Fund divested its remaining stake in OpenAI in late‑2025, selling the position to Nvidia for an undisclosed sum that analysts estimate to be in the low‑$10 billion range. The transaction, announced by Masayoshi Son in a brief statement on Twitter, marks the culmination of a decade‑long, sometimes fraught, relationship between the Japanese conglomerate and the U.S. AI powerhouse.

A brief history of the partnership

SoftBank’s involvement with OpenAI began in 2019, when the Vision Fund poured roughly $1.4 billion into the nascent company that was then still a “research lab.” At the time, Masayoshi Son was famously enthusiastic about the potential of generative AI, dubbing the technology “the next Internet.” The investment gave SoftBank a sizable 10‑plus percent stake, and in return the company received preferential access to OpenAI’s flagship models, including GPT‑4 and the upcoming GPT‑5.

For several years, the partnership seemed to be a textbook case of venture capital aligning with cutting‑edge technology. SoftBank’s capital helped fund OpenAI’s ambitious roadmap, and the company in turn benefited from SoftBank’s global network and deep pockets. However, tensions surfaced as OpenAI moved toward a “capped‑profit” structure—an arrangement that limited the upside for investors and conflicted with SoftBank’s appetite for higher returns.

Why the sale happened

According to insiders, the decision to sell was driven by a combination of financial pragmatism and strategic realignment. By 2025, SoftBank’s portfolio had grown considerably—especially after its Vision Fund 2 investments in AI, robotics, and cloud infrastructure. The conglomerate was increasingly focused on returning capital to shareholders and cutting exposure to highly speculative assets.

Simultaneously, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang announced that the company had acquired a 25‑percent stake in OpenAI for $5 billion, with plans to integrate the model’s inference capabilities into its A100 and H100 GPUs. The purchase was part of Nvidia’s broader strategy to become the “AI chip for all,” and to cement its dominance in the training and inference market. By buying SoftBank’s share, Nvidia effectively increased its influence over OpenAI’s roadmap, aligning the AI developer’s goals with the chip maker’s hardware roadmap.

Masayoshi Son himself noted that “the world is moving too fast for us to hold on to a single stake.” The Japanese billionaire has long been a champion of diversification, and SoftBank’s decision to liquidate its position is consistent with that philosophy.

The mechanics of the deal

While the exact transaction details remain private, analysts estimate that SoftBank’s 12‑percent stake—equivalent to $3.6 billion at the current valuation—was sold to Nvidia in a combination of cash and in‑kind securities. According to a recent Business Insider piece citing the company’s 2025 annual report, the deal was structured as follows:

The transaction closed on December 15, 2025, after both companies completed regulatory and antitrust reviews. SoftBank’s CEO, Son, expressed confidence that the move would “free up capital for new ventures in the automotive, healthcare, and quantum computing sectors.”

What does this mean for OpenAI?

OpenAI’s leadership, led by CEO Sam Altman, has indicated that the sale will have no operational impact. The company will continue to develop new models—such as GPT‑5, a multilingual and multimodal system—and expand its commercial offerings through the Azure‑OpenAI partnership. However, the influx of Nvidia’s capital and the partnership’s close alignment with GPU technology could accelerate the deployment of large‑scale inference clusters.

Altman is quoted in the article: “We are thrilled to have Nvidia as a partner; their hardware expertise complements our software vision.” He also added that the company remains committed to its “capped‑profit” model, ensuring that early investors—including SoftBank—benefited from the upside while maintaining an equitable distribution of future gains.

Implications for the broader AI market

1. Consolidation of AI assets: The deal underscores a trend toward vertical integration, with chip makers like Nvidia seeking direct stakes in the companies that develop AI algorithms. This could accelerate the pace of AI development, as hardware and software become more tightly coupled.

2. Shift in investment focus: SoftBank’s exit from OpenAI signals a potential shift away from high‑risk, high‑reward AI bets toward more diversified, technology‑agnostic investments. Analysts predict that the conglomerate will redirect capital to emerging fields such as autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, and biotech.

3. Competitive dynamics: The move could alter competitive dynamics in the AI ecosystem. With Nvidia’s stake, the company may have greater influence over OpenAI’s licensing terms—particularly with Microsoft’s Azure platform. This could prompt other chip makers (e.g., AMD, Intel, Google) to accelerate their own strategic investments in AI startups.

4. Market valuation pressure: Some experts worry that the sale may exert downward pressure on OpenAI’s market valuation, as it reduces the number of investors willing to bet large sums on the company. Conversely, others argue that the infusion of Nvidia capital will offset this effect by boosting OpenAI’s capacity to scale services and monetize its APIs.

A word from Masayoshi Son

In his brief tweet announcing the sale, Son wrote: “We thank OpenAI for a partnership that helped push AI forward. It’s time to look ahead and invest in the next frontier.” The statement received mixed reactions: some investors applauded the “capped‑profit” approach, while others lamented the loss of an early‑stage AI pioneer in their portfolio.

Looking forward

The sale of SoftBank’s OpenAI stake to Nvidia represents a micro‑cosm of the broader AI industry’s evolution. It highlights the increasing importance of strategic alliances that combine algorithmic innovation with hardware dominance, while also reflecting the volatility inherent in venture‑capital‑backed AI ventures.

SoftBank’s exit does not signal an end to its involvement in AI—indeed, the conglomerate has recently disclosed plans to invest in a new AI‑driven logistics platform in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s increased stake positions it to shape the future of AI at a hardware level, potentially influencing everything from data‑center design to consumer‑grade GPUs.

In an industry that is as rapidly changing as it is transformative, the ability to adapt quickly will be the key to long‑term success. Whether SoftBank’s divestiture is a strategic masterstroke or a misstep remains to be seen. One thing is clear: the AI ecosystem will continue to evolve at a breakneck pace, and the next few years will be critical in determining who will be the true pioneers of the next wave of intelligence.