{"slug": "softbank-s-son-calls-ai-bubble-talk-an-insult-delays-retiring", "title": "SoftBank's Son calls AI bubble talk an 'insult,' delays retiring", "summary": "SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son dismissed concerns about an AI bubble, calling such talk an 'insult' to a revolution just beginning, and vowed to delay retirement by another 10-15 years to capitalize on the AI boom. Son reaffirmed SoftBank's commitment to AI and robotics, including plans to list a new AI and robotics company called Roze in the US, as the firm accelerates investments in AI-related companies like OpenAI and Arm Holdings.", "body_md": "Softbank Group Corp chairman and chief executive officer Masayoshi Son brushed aside concerns about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble, saying that such a characterization is inappropriate for a revolution that’s only just begun. He vowed to remain at the helm of his investment group much longer to capitalize on the AI boom.\n\nThe Japanese founder said that, even at age 68, he remains eager to accelerate the global adoption of AI and build Softbank into one of the world’s preeminent AI-powered robotics companies. For this, he would remain in his post for another 10 or 15 years, he said during an annual shareholder meeting in Tokyo yesterday.\n\n“The AI revolution has only just begun. For an industry that is still at such an early stage, calling it a bubble is an insult,” he said. “I don’t have time to retire,” he added, referencing Softbank’s pursuit of what he sees as fundamental long-term technologies.\n\nPhoto: Bloomberg\n\nSon’s remarks underscore his unwavering belief in the growth of AI and the companies providing the core technologies and infrastructure that will power its development. A day earlier, he said there’s more than enough room for OpenAI and its biggest rivals Anthropic PBC and Alphabet Inc’s Google to grow “ten-fold, a hundred-fold,” despite stiff competition.\n\nSoftbank, which owns roughly 90 percent of chip designer Arm Holdings PLC, has been accelerating its investments into AI-related companies. It has committed to investing about US$65 billion in OpenAI and has agreed to acquire ABB Ltd’s robotics unit at a value of roughly US$5.4 billion.\n\n“One of the main themes of our new vision is physical AI, robots equipped with super intelligence,” Son said. “Artificial super intelligence won’t be replacing humans. But it will help humans evolve. It’s a tool for human advancement, a colleague and a partner.”\n\nSoftbank plans to establish and list an AI and robotics company called Roze in the US in a bid to expand its presence in the fast-growing sector, people familiar with the matter have said. The company aims to create and float such a vehicle as soon as this year, though the timing on that could slip to next year.\n\nSon said processors manufactured by Arm will be increasingly in demand as the rollout of AI applications expands globally. The tech investor said Softbank is on track to achieve its earlier goal of reaching 200 trillion yen (US$1.2 trillion) in market value by 2040. Softbank shares gained 1.3 percent yesterday, giving it a market capitalization of 38 trillion yen.\n\n“So what am I going to do in my seventies? It’s artificial super intelligence (ASI),” he said. “We are going to pursue ASI all the way through, without holding anything back. And if I’m to take on something like that, I won’t be content unless we’re the best. That’s simply the kind of person I am.”\n\nGoogle DeepMind vice president John Jumper, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on artificial intelligence (AI), is leaving the company to join Anthropic PBC. Jumper has been a key member of Google’s AI coding development team and his departure strains the tech giant’s efforts to beat Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX in the race to build the most powerful AI models. Google has struggled to sell AI coding tools to businesses, according to former employees. Employees and executives at DeepMind have raised concerns in the past few months that the company does not have a clear solution for\n\nThe Mega PX Mart Zhonglun (中崙) store in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) would close on Sept. 13 after 22 years of business, Ruentex Development Co (潤泰創新) said today. More than 160 employees at the store would be assisted in finding new positions, with job openings to be made available in the coming days, Reuntex spokesman Chen Po-yu (陳柏宇) said. The Zhonglun store, previously an RT-Mart, opened in December 2004 as Taiwan’s first urban hypermarket in central Taipei. Due to high rents in the city center, the store never turned a profit in its 22 years of operation, Chen said. Even\n\nRESTRICTION BREACH: ASML said that it denies ‘unfounded rumors regarding non-compliance with export controls concerning China,’ and enforces controls strictly US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in a series of recent meetings outlined concerns to Dutch chip-equipment giant ASML Holding NV’s senior leaders that one of its top-of-the-line machines might have made its way into China, in violation of US-led export restrictions. In the meetings, Lutnick expressed concern to ASML executives over the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, people familiar with the talks said. EUV systems are used by firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to manufacture processors for the likes of Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc. ASML has never been allowed to ship them to China because of curbs\n\nPROMISING SIGNS: The indications of a peace deal, or at least a ceasefire, between the US and Iran have global prices easing down slightly after months of shooting State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) announced on Saturday that it would cut domestic gasoline and diesel prices by NT$1.0 (US$0.03) and NT$0.7 per liter respectively this week, reflecting reduced upward pressure on international energy prices. The announcement marked an end to the company’s 11-week streak of leaving its retail fuel prices unchanged amid military conflicts in the Middle East. CPC said in a statement that international crude prices fell last week after the US and Iran announced plans to sign a memorandum of understanding to extend their ceasefire for 60 days and open the Strait of Hormuz, the choke", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-s-son-calls-ai-bubble-talk-an-insult-delays-retiring", "canonical_source": "https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2026/06/25/2003859680", "published_at": "2026-06-25 10:16:39+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-25 10:44:20.876697+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "robotics", "ai-startups", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-chips"], "entities": ["SoftBank Group Corp", "Masayoshi Son", "Arm Holdings PLC", "OpenAI", "Anthropic PBC", "Alphabet Inc", "Google", "ABB Ltd"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-s-son-calls-ai-bubble-talk-an-insult-delays-retiring", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-s-son-calls-ai-bubble-talk-an-insult-delays-retiring.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-s-son-calls-ai-bubble-talk-an-insult-delays-retiring.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/softbank-s-son-calls-ai-bubble-talk-an-insult-delays-retiring.jsonld"}}