SoftBank has sold its $5.8 billion Nvidia stake to double down on OpenAI, intensifying debate over whether the AI market is becoming overheated. The move came after Nvidia briefly surpassed $5 trillion in valuation earlier this year.
The company’s quarterly profit more than doubled to 2.5 trillion yen, lifted by valuation gains from its AI-focused investments. SoftBank also sold a portion of its T-Mobile holdings to bolster funding for future AI expansion.
CFO Yoshimitsu Goto said the divestment was strategic, not reactionary. “We needed to reallocate resources to fund our $30 billion OpenAI investment,” he explained. “It has nothing to do with Nvidia’s fundamentals.”
Nvidia shares fell 3.5% after the news, while Arm Holdings and Micron also declined amid renewed concerns of an AI bubble. The Nasdaq Composite dropped nearly 1%.
Analysts said SoftBank’s sale represents both prudence and foresight. After years of betting on infrastructure, the firm now appears determined to shape the applications defining the next wave of AI innovation.
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