SoftBank Doubles Down on AI with Key Partnerships and Potential OpenAI Deal

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The Japanese technology conglomerate SoftBank Group is making significant strides to solidify its position in the artificial intelligence infrastructure race. Its strategic moves, spanning from a new semiconductor partnership to a potential massive investment, have captured positive attention from the market.

Key Developments at a Glance:

• A collaboration between SoftBank subsidiary SAIMEMORY and Intel Corp. to create new memory technology for AI.
• The joint development of a solution called "Z-Angle Memory" (ZAM).
• Market reports indicate discussions to increase SoftBank's commitment to OpenAI by up to $30 billion.
• Arm Holdings, a SoftBank-owned company, is scheduled to release its quarterly earnings.

Separate from its hardware initiatives, SoftBank is reportedly in talks to substantially increase its financial stake in the AI sector. According to market sources, the group is considering an investment that could reach $30 billion into OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. This funding round would value the AI developer at approximately $830 billion, underscoring the intense competition and high valuations in the generative AI space.

Intel Partnership Targets Next-Generation AI Hardware

A central pillar of SoftBank's strategy is a newly announced collaboration with U.S. chip giant Intel. The two companies, working through SoftBank's SAIMEMORY unit, aim to co-develop and bring to market the "Z-Angle Memory" (ZAM) technology. This innovation is specifically designed to meet the demanding data processing requirements of advanced AI applications.

The ZAM technology promises to deliver greater memory capacity and bandwidth while operating at a significantly lower power consumption compared to existing solutions. It is based on Intel's "Next Generation DRAM Bonding" (NGDB) process, with foundational research stemming from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Memory Technology program.

The development roadmap extends over several years. Work is set to commence in the first quarter of 2026, with prototype production targeted for the fiscal year ending March 2028. SoftBank is aiming for a commercial launch in 2029 or 2030. The investment required to reach the prototype phase is estimated at around 3 billion yen (approximately $20 million).

Market and Investor Focus on Arm's Performance

Investor attention is also directed toward Arm Holdings, the chip design company owned by SoftBank. Arm is slated to publish its results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 on February 4. Market observers will be keenly watching how the company's own AI-focused initiatives are contributing to revenue, particularly in light of ongoing shifts within the global smartphone market.

The collective weight of these strategic announcements has resonated with investors. Shares of Intel saw gains in U.S. trading on February 3 following the partnership news.