Signage at a SoftBank Corp. store in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank is seeking to develop a “world-class” generative artificial intelligence model specific to the Japanese language and plans to invest $960 million over the next two years to strengthen its computing facilities, according to a report from the Nikkei.
Training large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s Chat GPT, requires advanced graphics processing units, which SoftBank plans to purchase from the US chip giant. Nvidiathe Nikkei reported Monday, citing unnamed sources.
The 150 billion yen ($960 million) investment will be spent in 2024 and 2025 and is in addition to the 20 billion yen SoftBank spent last year on IT infrastructure, the report said.
The latest investment is considered the largest of its kind by a Japanese company and, once completed, will likely give SoftBank the most powerful IT capabilities in the country, Nikkei added.
According to another report from Nikkei Asia, Japan lacks private companies with the high-performance supercomputers needed to build LLMs, despite increased interest in the technology.
The investments announced by SoftBank could be a game-changer and give Japan a strong domestic player in the generative AI space, at a time when international players are trying to enter the market.
Last week, OpenAI opened its first office in Tokyo as part of its global expansion plans. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced that it would invest $2.9 billion over two years to expand its cloud computing and AI infrastructure in the country.
In fiscal 2024, SoftBank plans to complete its first model, which will have 390 billion parameters, an indication of the complexity of LLM. It will also begin developing a more efficient model with 1 trillion parameters as early as 2025, according to Nikkei.
Other local players, such as Japanese telecommunications company NTT, have announced plans to develop an LLM this financial year. NTT says it will also invest 8 trillion yen ($51.7 billion) in growth areas such as data centers and AI over the next five years.
According to data from Statista Market Insights, the Japanese AI market is expected to reach around $13 billion by 2030, about 17 times larger than in 2023.
SoftBank’s stock price has been trending positively as the company focuses on AI, and is up about 20% year to date. It is also a majority shareholder in chip company Arm, whose sales expectations have risen amid the AI boom.
SoftBank is reportedly working to build AI data centers across Japan and recently joined a project to build a 65 billion yen center in Hokkaido.
Read the full report on Nikkei Asia.
cnbc
