Despite the investment losses, SoftBank’s overall revenue rose 13.3% in the six months ended September 30, supported by growth in its telecommunications and AI computing businesses. The company stated that its core SoftBank segment recorded higher sales across all business units, while revenue in the AI computing segment also increased. However, the Vision Fund segment swung to a loss of 81.58 billion yen in the quarter, a sharp reversal from a profit of 2.38 trillion yen in the same period last year. This decline was driven by falling share prices of publicly traded portfolio companies, including Coupang and Grab, which offset a $1.3 billion gain on ByteDance shares. Vision Fund 2 posted investment gains of 89.26 billion yen, while Vision Fund 1 recorded a loss of 3.86 billion yen.
SoftBank’s exposure to major AI players remains significant. As of the end of September, the company’s cumulative investment in OpenAI stood at $54.6 billion, with a reported fair value of $99.6 billion and a cumulative investment gain of $45 billion. On the equity markets, SoftBank shares closed 13.9% higher on Tuesday, reversing earlier declines. This gain aligned with a broader rebound in Asian technology stocks, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, following an overnight recovery on Wall Street.
In a separate strategic move announced Monday ahead of the earnings release, SoftBank Group disclosed plans with Grab and Malaysia’s PETROS to commit a combined $1.85 billion in initial capital to develop AI infrastructure in Malaysia. The partnership sets a long-term target of establishing at least five gigawatts of AI computing capacity in the region.
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