Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar announced at an event in Malacca that SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son plans to invest $50 billion in Malaysia, covering AI, data centers and other sectors. Anwar said the investment will be in Sarawak, Kuching and the Malaysian peninsula, and he held an online meeting with Son on October 20 to discuss related matters.
SoftBank shares fell as much as 6.7% on October 22, bringing the cumulative decline to 50% from the record high set on June 2. Growing concerns over AI investment spending, rising financing costs and CoreWeave's debt troubles have led investors to question SoftBank's financial health.
Nokia announced an agreement with SoftBank to conduct a commercial AI-RAN field trial in Japan in 2027, validating key AI-RAN capabilities under real network and traffic conditions. The trial will integrate Nokia's AI-native anyRAN Cloud RAN software, SoftBank's AITRAS platform and orchestrator, and NVIDIA ARC-Pro reference designs with Grace CPUs, moving AI-RAN from lab research toward real-world deployment.
Media reports citing people familiar with the matter say SoftBank Group is considering acquiring Allied Universal, the largest U.S. security services company. The talks are at an early stage and the price has not been determined. Allied Universal's equity value could reach $18 billion, and including about $12 billion in public debt, its total valuation could approach $30 billion. Masayoshi Son values the company as a platform for deploying robot technology. SoftBank ADRs fell 9% in late Friday trading.
In an interview on Blackstone's internal podcast, Masayoshi Son said AI could become 1,000 times smarter than humans within a decade, that everything he has done so far is just a warm-up, and that he opposes slowing AI development, believing technology itself is the solution to safety issues. He also introduced SoftBank's full-chain AI ecosystem investments, including LLMs, chips and data centers, and noted the company has begun using robots to produce robots.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has been in talks with Gulf investors, including the UAE, to raise up to $100 billion for a new fund that would acquire companies and improve their operations with AI and advanced technologies, with its robotics and physical AI business Roze expected to play a key role. The talks are not guaranteed to succeed.
Masayoshi Son warned that superintelligence could be "extremely dangerous" if it falls into the wrong hands amid exponential AI growth, urging countries to build mutual trust and strengthen cooperation. He reiterated his three-stage AI development path, saying the next stage will begin in 2027 as AI programs move into the physical world to assist robots, and predicted that by 2040, AI and machines with learning capabilities will account for at least 20% of global GDP, about $46 trillion.
SoftBank Group is seeking to issue over $11 billion in junk bonds, planning $10 billion in dollar bonds across three tranches and €1 billion in euro bonds across two tranches. Part of the proceeds will be used for a follow-on investment in OpenAI, expected to be completed in October 2026.
SoftBank announced last week that it plans to repay $25.9 billion of the $40 billion credit facility it obtained to support OpenAI investments, with the repayment due on Sept. 15. Bloomberg reported that SoftBank also arranged a new $11.87 billion two-year credit facility, securing commitments from about 20 financial institutions and exceeding the original $10 billion target.
On September 14, SoftBank Group suffered its worst single-day sell-off since late June in Tokyo, tumbling as much as 15% intraday before closing 10.72% lower at 5,795 yen. The Nikkei 225 fell 2%, with SoftBank the worst performer. The stock remains up nearly 26% year to date.