Softbank Group Corp is building up stakes in Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the latest reflection of founder Masayoshi Son’s focus on the tools and hardware underpinning artificial intelligence (AI).
The Japanese technology investor raised its stake in Nvidia to about US$3 billion by the end of March, up from US$1 billion in the prior quarter, regulatory filings showed. It bought about US$330 million worth of TSMC shares and US$170 million in Oracle Corp, they showed.
Softbank’s signature Vision Fund has also monetized almost US$2 billion of public and private assets in the first half of this year, a person familiar with the fund’s activities said.
Photo: EPA
The Vision Fund prioritizes its returns on investment, and there is no particular pressure from Softbank to monetize its assets, said the person, who asked not to be named discussing private information. A representative of Softbank declined to comment.
At the heart of Softbank’s AI ambitions is chip designer Arm Holdings PLC. Son is gradually building a portfolio around the Cambridge, UK-based company with key industry players, seeking to catch up after largely missing a historic rally that has made Nvidia into a US$4 trillion behemoth and boosted its contract chipmaker TSMC near a US$1 trillion value.
“Nvidia is the picks and shovels for the gold rush of AI,” said Ben Narasin, founder and general partner of Tenacity Venture Capital.
Softbank’s purchase of the US company’s stock may buy more influence and access to Nvidia’s most sought-after chips, he said.
“Maybe he gets to skip the line,” he added.
Softbank should have benefited from that bet on Nvidia — at least on paper. Nvidia has gained about 90 percent in market value since hitting a year’s low in early April, while TSMC has climbed more than 40 percent.
Softbank’s market capitalization stands at about US$118 billion, a fraction of Nvidia’s US$4.4 trillion valuation and that of other tech companies most closely associated with AI progress.
The company parted with a 4.9 percent stake in Nvidia in early 2019 that would be worth more than US$200 billion today. The company’s attempts to buy back some Nvidia shares, alongside those of proxy TSMC, would help Son regain access to some of the most lucrative parts of the semiconductor supply chain.
The 67-year-old Softbank founder now seeks to play a more central role in the spread of AI through sweeping partnerships. These include the company’s US$500 billion Stargate data center foray with OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-backed investment fund MGX. Son is also courting TSMC and others about taking part in a US$1 trillion AI manufacturing hub in Arizona.
As Arm’s intellectual property is used to power the majority of mobile chips and is increasingly used in server chips, Softbank could carve out a unique position without being a manufacturer itself, said Richard Kaye, co-head of Japan equity strategy at Comgest Asset Management Ltd and a long-time Softbank investor.
“I think he sees himself as the natural provider of AI semiconductor technology,” he said. “What Son really wants to do is capture the upstream and the downstream of everything.”
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
RSS