TOKYO — SoftBank Group Corp. posted a nearly fivefold surge in annual profit to 5 trillion yen ($32 billion) on Wednesday, underscoring how its early bets on artificial intelligence are paying off with outsized returns. The Tokyo-based technology investor reported sales of 7.8 trillion yen ($50 billion), up 8% from a year earlier, as gains from its sprawling portfolio—particularly its $34.6 billion stake in OpenAI—dwarfed declines elsewhere.
The company’s investment in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, reaped a paper gain of $45 billion during the fiscal year that ended in March, SoftBank said in a statement. That windfall alone more than accounted for the nearly fourfold increase in overall profit from the prior year’s 1.15 trillion yen.
Beyond OpenAI, SoftBank’s holdings include U.S. chipmaker Nvidia, British semiconductor designer Arm, and German mobile and internet provider Deutsche Telekom. The company also developed the humanoid robot Pepper. An initial public offering of PayPay, a popular cashless payment app in Japan, gave an additional lift to the bottom line.
The company said gains from its stake in Intel Corp. helped offset losses from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Such mixed results are common for SoftBank, which began investing in technology earlier than most Japanese peers and now oversees a sprawling array of businesses through its Vision Funds.
SoftBank was founded more than four decades ago by Masayoshi Son, its chief executive and chairman. Son, a University of California graduate and billionaire, is widely regarded as a pioneer in Japan’s technology sector.
Looking ahead, SoftBank recently started a battery business in Japan to build next-generation electric power infrastructure, anticipating that growing electricity demand driven by AI use will require new energy solutions. The company is also working with Toppan, a Japanese printing, communications, security and packaging company, to develop a lightweight, durable “skin” material for aircraft wings. The material is expected to be used for commercial services in about three years.
SoftBank Group does not provide earnings forecasts.