SoftBank Group is seeking to raise as much as $100 billion from Gulf investors for AI investments, Bloomberg reported on 9 October, citing the Financial Times.
Founder Masayoshi Son has held initial talks with investors including in the United Arab Emirates, Bloomberg reported. The proposed fund would buy companies and use AI and robotics to improve their operations, according to the report.
The fundraising effort follows SoftBank’s $10 billion payment to OpenAI, which took its investment in the company to $64.6 billion. SoftBank, Grab and Petros have also signed a framework agreement to explore an AI platform in Sarawak.
Reuters said it could not immediately verify the Financial Times report. SoftBank did not respond to its request for comment, Reuters reported.
