SoftBank Volunteers to Replace Apple on OpenAI’s Key Investor List

Japanese investment holding company SoftBank plans to invest $500 million in OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, Bloomberg reports. The investment will be part of a larger funding round in which OpenAI expects to raise $6.5 billion at a company valuation of $150 billion.

Image source: OpenAI

The round is expected to be led by Thrive Capital with the participation of Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, as well as other investors. In particular, the company discussed investments with Nvidia and Apple. However, the latter is no longer involved in negotiations on participation in the round, but SoftBank may appear on the list of investors through its Vision Fund. If the deal goes through, OpenAI will cement its status as one of the most valuable startups in the world. Official representatives of OpenAI and SoftBank have not yet commented on this matter.

At the same time, the company is going through a difficult period. Last week, OpenAI CTO and key employee Mira Murati announced her resignation, adding another link in the chain of dismissals of the company’s top managers this year. Additionally, OpenAI is considering restructuring to become a fully commercial entity, according to Bloomberg. Let us recall that the founders of OpenAI previously positioned their company as a non-profit organization, focusing on research in “creating a positive long-term impact on humans.”

Note that SoftBank had not previously shown investment interest in OpenAI, but supported one of its competitors. Most notably, in June, the Vision Fund, managed by SoftBank Investment Advisers, a subsidiary of SoftBank, invested in Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence search startup, valuing it at $3 billion.

admin

Share
Published by
admin

Recent Posts

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with two cosmonauts and an astronaut flew to the ISS

The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft and three crew members launched…

14 minutes ago

The Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with two cosmonauts and an astronaut flew to the ISS

The Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-27 manned spacecraft and three crew members launched…

18 minutes ago

Samsung’s first-quarter profit beats analysts’ expectations

Samsung Electronics will publish detailed financial statements for the first quarter of this year only…

1 hour ago

Memory, storage and drive suppliers will be the main losers from the US trade war

The US President's imposition of tariffs will affect US companies that import components of their…

1 hour ago

Amazon Nova Reel 1.1 AI model can generate a two-minute video based on text cues

Amazon has unveiled an updated AI model, Nova Reel 1.1, that can generate videos up…

2 hours ago

Tit for tat: Trump threatens China with another 50% tariff hike

Last week, Chinese authorities said they would impose tariffs of 34% on American imports from…

3 hours ago