SoftBank Sells Entire Nvidia Stake, Redirects $40 Billion Toward OpenAI

SoftBank Group has officially sold all of its shares in Nvidia, ending its relationship with the AI chipmaker that helped fuel the sector’s historic rally. The Japanese conglomerate disclosed in a Tuesday filing that it and one of its subsidiaries offloaded their entire Nvidia position for $5.83 billion in October.

The sale marks a significant strategic pivot, as SoftBank redirects capital toward OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, despite the company’s deepening losses and growing scrutiny surrounding CEO Sam Altman’s credibility.

Funding the OpenAI Bet

Alongside its Nvidia exit, SoftBank also completed a $9.17 billion partial sale of its T-Mobile stake as part of what it calls an “asset monetization” strategy. The goal: to help finance a massive $40 billion investment in OpenAI by the end of 2025.

According to the company’s filing, SoftBank issued $4.1 billion in yen bonds, $4.2 billion in foreign debt, and arranged bridge loans totaling $15 billion—including $8.5 billion for OpenAI and $6.5 billion for ABB Robotics.

Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto confirmed that the scale of the OpenAI investment required SoftBank to reallocate capital from existing assets. The firm’s plan, approved on March 31, includes $30 billion of its own funds, with $10 billion already deployed in April and another $22.5 billion scheduled for December.

Record Vision Fund Gains

SoftBank’s Vision Fund reported a record $23.4 billion (¥3.54 trillion) investment gain for the quarter, driven largely by its OpenAI stake, which contributed $14.3 billion in paper profits after being marked up to a $260 billion pre-money valuation.

The performance more than doubled SoftBank’s quarterly net income to $19.3 billion (¥2.924 trillion), a 190.9% increase year-over-year, underscoring the company’s renewed focus on artificial intelligence rather than semiconductor hardware.

OpenAI Under Fire

SoftBank’s aggressive bet on OpenAI comes at a moment of controversy for the U.S. AI firm. Reports revealed that OpenAI privately requested federal loan guarantees from the White House in late October—just days before CEO Sam Altman publicly denied seeking government assistance.

The 11-page letter, submitted to the Office of Science and Technology Policy, requested expanded tax credits and infrastructure support for AI data centers. The White House declined, with AI policy adviser David Sacks noting that “at least five other companies” could fill OpenAI’s role.

From Chips to Intelligence

This is SoftBank’s second full exit from Nvidia, after first selling a $4 billion stake in 2019. The group later re-entered but once again divested as it shifted its focus toward AI infrastructure, robotics, and data centers—key pillars in its mission to “realize artificial superintelligence (ASI) for the advancement of humanity.”

Industry observers called the move “a strong but unexpected pivot away from hardware and toward AI ecosystems,” according to Jiahao Sun, CEO of decentralized AI platform FLock.io.

Market Reactions and Warning Signs

The Nvidia sale came amid growing skepticism over whether Wall Street’s massive AI infrastructure spending will translate into profits. Nvidia’s primary supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., reported 16.9% revenue growth in October, its slowest pace since early 2024.

At the same time, short-seller Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management disclosed bearish positions against Nvidia, even as Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft plan to collectively invest more than $400 billion in AI infrastructure in 2025.

Nvidia shares (NASDAQ: NVDA) slipped 1.46% in pre-market trading, closing the previous session at $199.05, while SoftBank (OTCMKTS: SFTBY) remained largely unchanged after gaining 2.74% in the prior session, according to Yahoo Finance data.