SoftBank Group: Masayoshi Son Targets JPY 1 Quadrillion Market Cap on Artificial Superintelligence Vision
46th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, June 23, 2026
Masayoshi Son delivered an audacious vision at SoftBank Group's annual shareholder meeting, declaring the company will achieve a JPY 1 quadrillion market capitalization within 16 years by dominating what he calls the four corners of Artificial Superintelligence infrastructure. The 68-year-old founder, who revised his retirement plans to pursue this ambition through his 70s, outlined a comprehensive strategy spanning AI models, semiconductors, data centers, and robotics that positions SoftBank as the sole global player attempting to control all critical ASI infrastructure elements.
The Quadrillion Yen Ambition and Historical Track Record
Son anchored his audacious forecast in SoftBank's historical performance, noting that 16 years ago the company's net asset value stood at JPY 3 trillion. Today that figure has grown to JPY 74 trillion, representing a 25-fold increase. The company's equity value of holdings expanded from JPY 5 trillion to its current level while reducing net debt from JPY 2 trillion, creating what Son characterizes as shareholder value growth from 3 golden eggs to 74 golden eggs. He argued forcefully that the market continues to ascribe zero value to the goose laying these eggs, with SoftBank's current market cap of approximately JPY 37 trillion trading at roughly half its net asset value.
Son was unapologetic about the scale of his vision, stating "JPY 1 quadrillion, 1,000 golden eggs" as his 16-year target. He defended his track record of delivering on long-term commitments, noting that SoftBank has never missed a disclosed profit outlook or mid-term business plan target. The founder positioned his willingness to articulate such ambitious goals as a return to the bold vision characteristic of iconic Japanese business leaders like Konosuke Matsushita, Soichiro Honda, and Akio Morita, contrasting this with what he sees as timidity among current major business leaders who avoid setting audacious targets.
The Four Corners Strategy for ASI Dominance
Son outlined SoftBank's strategy to control what he described as the four corners of the ASI board game, drawing an analogy to the strategic board game Othello where controlling corners provides decisive advantage. The four focus areas are AI models, semiconductors, AI infrastructure including data centers, and robotics. Unlike competitors who might dominate one area, Son emphasized that SoftBank is uniquely positioned to control all four simultaneously.
In AI models, SoftBank's partnership with OpenAI provides access to frontier model development. Son disclosed he personally uses ChatGPT 10 to 20 times daily and spends one to two hours communicating with AI on weekends, describing it as a transformative tool for ideation and decision-making. He emphasized that OpenAI is preparing new programming and products as the industry transitions from generative AI to what he calls Agentic AI, where AI agents think and act autonomously rather than simply responding to prompts.
The semiconductor strategy centers on Arm, which SoftBank acquired for JPY 3.4 trillion and now values at approximately JPY 61 trillion based on current market prices. Son positioned Arm as the inevitable winner in the next phase of AI computing, arguing that while NVIDIA dominated the first phase of generative AI with GPUs optimized for graphics, Arm's CPU architecture will dominate Agentic AI which requires more computational thinking rather than content generation. Crucially, Son highlighted that Arm's power efficiency is twice that of Intel and AMD architectures, consuming only half the electricity for equivalent performance, which becomes critical as power emerges as a primary constraint on data center capacity.
Massive Data Center Buildout Across Three Continents
SoftBank's AI infrastructure strategy represents perhaps the most capital-intensive element of Son's vision. The company is building a 10 gigawatt capacity data center in Ohio through SoftBank Energy, equivalent to the output of 10 nuclear power plants or roughly one-third of Japan's total nuclear capacity. Son revealed this project is being developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and Department of Energy, with memoranda of understanding already signed with potential customers. He described the expected revenue as huge and characterized the Ohio project alone as capable of generating many golden eggs.
Beyond Ohio, SoftBank is simultaneously developing capacity in Milam County, Texas, and recently reached agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron for a 5 gigawatt data center in France that will be Europe's largest. Son indicated plans to expand data center capacity in Japan as well, though he acknowledged significant regulatory challenges, noting that permission applications alone require six years in Japan. He suggested that if SoftBank Corp's potential acquisition of Tokyo Electric Power Company proceeds, it could facilitate bringing AI data centers back to Japan by addressing power availability constraints.
The data center strategy connects to SoftBank's broader Stargate plan with OpenAI and Oracle to enhance infrastructure for AI model training and deployment. Son indicated this construction is proceeding ahead of schedule and emphasized that SoftBank intends to serve not just OpenAI but other hyperscalers requiring AI data center capacity.
Physical AI and Robotics Manufacturing
The fourth corner of SoftBank's ASI strategy focuses on robotics or what Son calls physical AI, where artificial superintelligence is embodied in physical form. He revealed that SoftBank has been systematically acquiring leading robotics companies, including ABB Robotics which ranks second globally in traditional robotics. These acquisitions position SoftBank to create what Son declared will be the absolute number one AI robotics company in the future.
In a significant disclosure, Son revealed that physical AI robots have already begun mass manufacturing and mass producing robots at an existing factory, stating "I think it's the very first in the world. AI already started mass producing of AI." While he declined to provide details, indicating he would make a formal announcement when the timing is appropriate, this suggests SoftBank has achieved a critical milestone in physical AI commercialization that competitors have yet to reach.
Son articulated a vision where superintelligent robots operate autonomously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in factories, communicate and cooperate with each other, perform high-risk work in disaster areas, conduct deep ocean operations, and address labor shortages particularly acute in aging societies like Japan. He positioned this not as replacement of human workers but as augmentation, describing ASI and physical AI as tools and partners to evolve humanity rather than threaten it.
Strategic Rationale for Intel Investment
Son addressed shareholder questions about SoftBank's JPY 300 billion investment in Intel, which drew significant criticism when announced six months ago. He noted the investment has already appreciated five to six-fold with Intel's market cap approaching JPY 1 trillion. Son positioned Intel as the second-largest chip foundry globally after TSMC, ahead of Samsung, and argued that U.S. national security imperatives require strengthening Intel's position given geopolitical tensions around Taiwan. He revealed that major customers including Apple and NVIDIA are now signing or planning to sign contracts with Intel, validating the investment thesis despite initial skepticism.
Arm's Competitive Positioning Against NVIDIA and AMD
When questioned about Arm's competitive position against NVIDIA's planned data center CPUs and established players like Intel and AMD, both Son and Arm CEO Rene Haas emphasized power efficiency as the decisive competitive advantage. Son characterized AMD as copying Intel "like Pepsi to Coca-Cola" and noted that both Intel and AMD consume substantially more power than Arm architecture. He stated that Arm requires only half the electricity to perform equivalently, which becomes critical as power availability emerges as the primary constraint on data center capacity expansion.
Haas, attending as a Board member, reinforced this positioning by noting that the transition to Agentic AI means exponentially more compute requirements. He explained that "when you add more and more agents to everything that's going on with artificial intelligence, all the tokens that are generated, all of the distribution of those tokens, that is only work that can be done by CPU." This architectural shift from GPU-intensive generative AI to CPU-intensive Agentic AI represents the fundamental basis for Son's confidence in Arm's trajectory. Haas concluded that "the best is yet to come for Arm," echoing Son's view that despite Arm's market capitalization growing from JPY 3.4 trillion at acquisition to approximately JPY 70 trillion today, substantial further appreciation remains ahead.
New Cybersecurity Business with OpenAI
Son revealed a new business line developed with OpenAI focused on cybersecurity, describing it as Protection as a Service or PaaS. This technology identifies and protects against cyber attacks, with OpenAI and Anthropic having developed the underlying capabilities. Son acknowledged that within six months to a year, China, North Korea, or Russia will likely launch copied versions, but positioned the service as fulfilling a critical mission to protect companies and countries from increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks. He indicated this business will be profitable, comparing it to physical security services like SECOM, and suggested additional aligned services will launch in the future.
Personal Motivation and Succession Planning
In an emotional segment, Son shared that his father's final words before dying from cancer 2.5 years ago were "A tiger leaves behind his skin when he dies, and human leaves behind his reputation when he's dead." He reflected that his father, who would come home from work and tell young Masayoshi over sake "you need to make money to live, I will do in my generation, but you don't live a life for the sake of money. You should live a life to make millions of people happy," fundamentally shaped his motivation. Son stated emphatically "I'm not doing this for the sake of money. Otherwise my dad will be mad. To make people happy, to make billions of people happy, that's what I want to do with AI and robots."
On succession, Son indicated he revised his original 50-year life plan that called for handing over business to the next generation in his 60s. Now 68 and describing himself as in excellent health, playing intense table tennis with three young employees who must rotate to keep up with him, Son declared he will pursue the ASI vision through his 70s. He emphasized that his successor must come from within SoftBank's 2,000 group companies rather than from outside, as the corporate culture, vision, policy, and philosophy must be maintained across generations. Son positioned the intelligence revolution as a 300-year phenomenon comparable to the 200-300 year Industrial Revolution, requiring leadership continuity around core principles even as he eventually steps aside.
Dividend Policy and Capital Allocation
When challenged by a shareholder that total dividend payments of JPY 330 billion are too small, Son posed the question of whether shareholders prefer cash in hand or future golden eggs. He argued that future golden eggs get reflected in share price appreciation, and that while SoftBank will continue delivering dividends, the company intends to focus primarily on share price growth as the return to shareholders. Son stated the company needs capital to grow and asked shareholders to be excited about future returns rather than demanding higher current dividends, consistent with his argument that the market systematically undervalues SoftBank's asset base and growth trajectory.
Board Composition Changes
The meeting approved the election of nine Board members, with two directors retiring and two new external directors joining. Miwa Ohmori, with extensive experience in financial services including trading, M&A, private banking, corporate banking, bonds, and insurance, emphasized her experience navigating the Japanese bubble, Lehman shock, and subsequent financial industry restructuring. She praised SoftBank's ability to quickly adjust direction and progress aggressively. Tetsuji Ohashi, with approximately 50 years at Komatsu Limited, positioned his manufacturing background and long-term strategic perspective as particularly relevant to physical AI, which he characterized as crucial for bridging the real and virtual worlds in the AI era.