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In December 2024, the press conference between US President Trump and Masayoshi Son, President of telecommunications giant SoftBank Group, became a hot topic. Now, in 2025, SoftBank Group has announced another new project, which I will introduce here.

The Massive $500 Billion Investment “Stargate Project”

On January 22, 2025, SoftBank Group announced the “Stargate Project,” a joint project with OpenAI to build a large-scale AI infrastructure. The project aims to establish leadership in the AI field in the United States and contribute to the global economy.

In the Stargate Project, a huge investment of $500 billion will be made over the next four years, of which $100 billion will be invested immediately. This investment is expected to not only develop data centers and AI infrastructure, but also create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States, revitalize American industry, and even strengthen the national security of the United States and its allies.

In addition to SoftBank Group and OpenAI, Oracle and MGX, an artificial intelligence (AI) investment company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), are named as initial investors in the project. SoftBank Group will be responsible for financial management, OpenAI will be responsible for operations, and Masayoshi Son will serve as chairman. Key technology partners include Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI, and these companies will work closely together to build and operate the computing system.

The construction of the AI infrastructure has already begun in Texas, and contracts for the construction of campuses are being signed at candidate sites across the United States. The Stargate Project is based on the cooperative relationship that OpenAI and NVIDIA have built since 2016, and the recent partnership between OpenAI and Oracle. It also leverages the existing partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft, aiming to expand the use of Azure while training leading models and providing high-quality products and services.

Investing in the AI and Semiconductor Industries

While Masayoshi Son, President of SoftBank Group, is showing his presence by announcing various AI-related investments such as AI data centers, the outline of AI and semiconductor industry support measures to be included in the comprehensive economic package to be compiled by the government within the month has been revealed in Japan. The government plans to provide more than 10 trillion yen in support by fiscal 2030, of which about 6 trillion yen will be allocated to subsidies for research and development of next-generation semiconductors, and more than 4 trillion yen will be allocated to financial support such as government investment and debt guarantees.

In addition, SoftBank Group and OpenAI established a joint venture company “SB Open AI Japan” on February 3, 2025. The company will develop and sell “Crystal Intelligence,” a generative AI (artificial intelligence) service for businesses, to support business efficiency. SoftBank Group will pay OpenAI approximately 450 billion yen annually for development and operation costs.

Given these circumstances, investments in data centers and the AI/semiconductor industry are expected to progress in Japan as well. Including the trends of SoftBank Group and OpenAI, it will be necessary to examine the results of these investments to see if they will contribute to the future economic growth of Japan and the world.