SoftBank has expanded its partnership with OpenAI with plans to invest up to $40 billion in the company.

The Japanese business said that about $10 billion will be syndicated out to co-investors, with SoftBank’s stake at around $30 billion.

The investment is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Explaining its rationale behind the investment, SoftBank said that the “information revolution” has now moved to a new phase led by AI, adding that the company wants to improve Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), a hypothetical type of autonomous AI that would surpass human capabilities, for the “advancement of humanity.”

SoftBank added that OpenAI is the closes to achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), a hypothetical type of autonomous AI that would match human capabilities, which is a key milestone towards ASI.

SoftBank has invested around $2.2 billion in total through SoftBank Vision Fund 2 since September 2024.

In February, OpenAI and SoftBank Group announced a partnership to develop and market new AI technology called Cristal intelligence.

The advanced enterprise AI is designed to securely integrate the systems and data of individual enterprises in a way that is customised for each business.

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