SoftBank Sells Entire $5.8 Bn Nvidia Stake to Fund Massive $30 Bn OpenAI Bet

SoftBank Group on Tuesday revealed that it has sold its entire Nvidia holding of around $5.8 billion, a move managers said was intended to free cash to bankroll a huge expansion of the group’s artificial intelligence bets – above all its multi‑billion dollar commitment to OpenAI.

The disclosure came alongside quarterly results and provoked a volatile market reaction: SoftBank shares fell as much as 10% intraday before recovering to end the session lower. The sale also rippled through chip and AI-linked stocks.

The numbers and the why

• Disposal: ~$5.8 billion raised from selling roughly 32 million Nvidia shares.
• Big-ticket commitments: SoftBank has said its follow‑on funding for OpenAI will be substantial – management and reporting indicate a program in the $30 billion range to be deployed over time.
• Other deals: The company is also funding purchases such as Ampere (reported $6.5bn) and ABB’s robotics unit (reported $5.4bn), and has been selling stakes in assets like T‑Mobile to build its war chest.

Management: “we need to divest”

At an earnings briefing SoftBank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto was explicit about the reason for the October sale:

“This year our investment in OpenAI is large – more than $30bn needs to be made – so for that we do need to divest our existing portfolios,” said Goto in a press statement

Market reaction and analyst voices

The disclosure that SoftBank had monetised its Nvidia holding to fund AI spending set off investor concern about liquidity needs and risk appetite. CreditSights analyst Mary Pollock flagged the scale of commitments and the pressure on cash.

“Though SBG’s liquidity position has improved relative to when it issued its hybrids in October, we still estimate it will need to be proactive funding its recent (more than) $41 billion investment spend,” said Pollock

Other market voices argued the move was strategic rather than a negative view on Nvidia itself.

“I do not think SoftBank has a negative view on Nvidia. The position was large, liquid, and easy to monetise, and likely SoftBank sees even more upside in reallocating capital to OpenAI.” said Rolf Bulk, analyst at New Street Research

And from inside SoftBank’s Vision Fund, defending the thesis that AI investments can justify heavy capital deployment,

“What’s different between the dotcom boom and today is that AI companies are generating meaningful revenues,” said Navneet Govil, Executive Managing Partner & Investment Committee Member at Softbank

Why investors panicked, and why some stayed calm

Investors reacted for two main reasons:

1. Risk rotation: Selling a blue‑chip, liquid, and highly visible AI play like Nvidia to fund a less liquid and privately held bet such as OpenAI looks like a move from certainty to concentration.
2. Liquidity signaling: The sale underlined SoftBank’s immediate funding needs — analysts estimate the group has committed more than $41 billion in recent transactions and acquisitions.

But supporters say SoftBank is simply reallocating capital from a public winner to a private one that could deliver outsized strategic control — and potentially outsized returns.

What this means for the AI market

• Short term: Pressure on related equities as traders re‑weight positions.
• Medium term: A bet on OpenAI consolidates SoftBank’s exposure to the software‑and‑services side of the AI boom rather than pure silicon.
• Long term: If OpenAI’s commercialisation continues to accelerate, SoftBank could capture greater upside — but the path is less liquid and more execution‑sensitive.

Editor’s Note

SoftBank’s decision to liquidate its entire Nvidia stake to double down on OpenAI marks a symbolic shift from hardware-driven AI growth to software-led intelligence. While the move exposes SoftBank to concentrated risk, it also reflects Masayoshi Son’s trademark boldness — betting big on paradigm shifts before the market fully prices them in. The $30 billion wager on OpenAI signals confidence in the platformization of AI, but whether this translates into sustainable returns or another Vision Fund-style volatility remains to be seen. For now, SoftBank is once again reminding the world that in tech investing, conviction often comes before consensus.

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