SoftBank Group (9984.T) is bolstering its presence in the chip technology sector with a $6.5 billion acquisition of Ampere Computing, a U.S. chip startup.
The deal, announced Wednesday, reflects SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son’s increasing investment in the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence, which he views as a transformative technology. This move follows a series of major investments, including those in OpenAI, the Stargate project for AI data centers in the U.S., and Cristal, a joint venture with OpenAI for AI services in Japan.
Ampere creates data center central processing unit (CPU) chips based on an architecture from Arm Holdings, a company in which SoftBank holds a majority stake. These chips are used by companies like Oracle (ORCL.N) for cloud computing.
As part of the acquisition, Ampere’s major investors, Oracle and Carlyle Group (CG.O), will sell their shares, according to SoftBank. Son stated that groundbreaking computing power is crucial to the future of “artificial super intelligence.”
Ampere was established in 2018 by Renee James, formerly of Intel. The company developed CPUs using proprietary computing core technology. Arm, a major competitor, has also aimed to collaborate directly with clients like Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) to assist in the creation of their own Arm-based CPUs.
Under SoftBank, Ampere will join Arm in the Japanese conglomerate’s growing group of chip technology companies, all geared towards AI. Son is known for his high-conviction bets on new technologies. This move into AI comes at a time of high valuations, and his investment record has been mixed.
WeWork, a shared office provider in which SoftBank invested billions, went into administration. In addition, the value of the technology startups held by SoftBank’s Vision Fund investment vehicles has decreased since 2022.
