SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has candidly expressed deep regret over the sale of the company's stake in chipmaking giant NVIDIA, stating he "was crying" over the decision.[1][2][3] The emotional admission underscores the immense opportunity cost of the sale, a move Son described as a painful but necessary step to secure capital for SoftBank's aggressive pivot towards artificial intelligence, most notably a massive investment in OpenAI.[4][5] This strategic capital reallocation highlights the high-stakes financial maneuvering required to compete at the forefront of the AI revolution, forcing even seasoned investors to sacrifice significant gains in one area to fund potentially larger, transformative bets in another.

The decision to liquidate SoftBank's entire holding in NVIDIA, which amounted to $5.83 billion, was not driven by a lack of faith in the chipmaker's future.[3][4] On the contrary, Son publicly lauded NVIDIA and its CEO, Jensen Huang, expressing a strong desire to have kept the shares.[2] The sale was a matter of financial necessity, a move to bolster the cash reserves of the SoftBank Vision Fund to bankroll a series of ambitious AI ventures.[1][3] This is not the first time SoftBank has parted with NVIDIA shares, having sold a significant stake in 2019, a decision that Son previously lamented as letting "the fish that got away," a move that cost the company a potential $157 billion windfall.[6][7] The latest sale in October was a similarly difficult choice, dictated by the urgent need for liquidity to fund what Son sees as the next wave of technological transformation.[8][9]

At the heart of SoftBank's strategic shift is a profound commitment to OpenAI, the company behind the widely popular ChatGPT.[3] Son has declared that SoftBank is "all in" on OpenAI, predicting it could one day become the world's most valuable company.[3][10] This conviction is backed by a substantial financial commitment, with plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI research and deployment company.[11][12] The capital raised from the NVIDIA sale is directly fueling this and other AI-centric projects, including the acquisition of US chip designer Ampere Computing and the development of large-scale data centers under the "Stargate Project," a collaboration with OpenAI and others.[1][13][14] These investments have already started to show returns on paper, with SoftBank's second-quarter net profit more than doubling, significantly driven by valuation gains in its OpenAI holdings.[1][13]

Son's high-stakes gamble comes amid a broader market debate about a potential AI bubble.[5][15] However, he has forcefully dismissed these concerns, stating that those who talk about a bubble are "not smart enough."[1][16] He argues that critics are underestimating the long-term economic impact of artificial intelligence, predicting that "super artificial intelligence" and AI-powered robotics could eventually generate at least 10% of the global gross domestic product.[3][17] This immense potential, in his view, justifies the trillions of dollars currently flowing into the sector.[18] By selling its stake in NVIDIA, a company providing the essential "picks and shovels" of the AI boom, to directly fund a leading "gold mine" like OpenAI, SoftBank is making a clear, albeit risky, bet on controlling a core part of the future AI ecosystem.[4]

In conclusion, Masayoshi Son's emotional revelation about the NVIDIA stake sale provides a rare glimpse into the immense pressures and strategic calculations defining the current AI landscape. The move represents a calculated sacrifice, trading a highly profitable and foundational investment for the capital required to pursue an even grander vision centered on artificial general intelligence. While the tears shed over the missed NVIDIA gains are real, they are shed in service of a multi-billion-dollar bet that OpenAI and its associated ventures will ultimately deliver a far greater return, reshaping not just SoftBank's fortunes but the trajectory of the global economy. The success or failure of this monumental pivot will undoubtedly serve as a key narrative in the ongoing story of the artificial intelligence revolution.