SoftBank Group and OpenAI announced a major partnership on Monday, committing to a $3 billion annual investment by SoftBank to integrate OpenAI’s technology across its subsidiaries.
The collaboration also includes the creation of a new joint venture called “SB OpenAI Japan,” which will market OpenAI’s enterprise technology exclusively to large corporations in Japan.
SB OpenAI Japan will offer access to various OpenAI products, including ChatGPT Enterprise, custom AI models, and advanced agent technologies such as Operator, which automates web-based tasks. One of the highly anticipated new features is “Deep Research,” a tool designed to conduct multi-step web analysis, set to be available in Japan in the local language.
SoftBank has branded this suite of AI services as “Cristal Intelligence,” which will initially be rolled out across its group companies, including semiconductor firm Arm and digital payment service PayPay.
Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s CEO, expressed excitement about the collaboration during a livestreamed event. Holding a symbolic blue crystal ball, Son described Cristal Intelligence as a “super-intelligence for the company.”
The announcement comes just days after reports surfaced that SoftBank is in talks to invest between $15 billion and $25 billion in OpenAI as part of a funding round that could value the AI company at up to $340 billion. If completed, this investment would make SoftBank OpenAI’s largest backer, surpassing Microsoft.
Son emphasized his belief in the potential of artificial general intelligence (AGI), predicting that it could become a reality within the next decade. He noted that “quite a huge amount of money is necessary” to achieve AGI and that only large enterprises currently have access to such funds.
SoftBank and OpenAI are also part of the Stargate project, a joint venture with Oracle backed by US government support. The initiative aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States and expand to Japan and other countries. Son expressed enthusiasm for the project, highlighting its potential to advance AI capabilities on a global scale.
The partnership announcement comes amid heightened competition in the AI sector, with Chinese startup DeepSeek gaining attention for its low-cost, high-performance AI model. The company’s technology has prompted questions about the billions being invested in AI development by major US companies.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged DeepSeek’s advancements, calling it “clearly a great model” and emphasizing the competitive landscape in the AI industry.
With input from CNBC, Reuters, and the Associated Press.
