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March 26, 2025
 

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SOFTBANK

SoftBank Group has agreed to acquire semiconductor designer Ampere Computing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2025
SoftBank seals $6.5 billion deal for chip designer Ampere
The move further broadens the Japanese investment firm’s push into artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (center left) and Arm Holdings CEO Rene Haas (center right) during a ceremony to launch a collaboration between Malaysia and the chipmaker in Kuala Lumpur on March 5
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 19, 2025
Malaysia's Silicon Valley ambitions face tough challenges
Internal constraints such as a talent crunch, funding problems and other supply chain gaps present key hurdles to the Southeast Asian country.
Cubs pitcher Colin Rea pitches against the Guardians in a spring training game in Mesa, Arizona, on March 1.
BASEBALL
Mar 15, 2025
Former Hawks pitcher Colin Rea happy to be in Japan with Cubs for Tokyo Series
Rea pitched for the Pacific League club in 2021 and 2022. 
With a pact to pay Arm Holdings $250 million over a period of ten years, Malaysia joined a growing number of countries that are trying to build domestic production of a component critical to future technologies and national security.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2025
SoftBank’s Arm to drive Malaysia’s $270 billion chip goals
Malaysia, which packages roughly a tenth of the world’s semiconductors, has inked a pact to pay Arm $250 million over a period of 10 years for licenses and knowhow.
In all, global investors plowed around $315 million into eFishery’s preferred shares over five funding rounds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2025
SoftBank among eFishery investors facing near wipeout
Investors in the startup, which deploys feeders to fish and shrimp farmers in Indonesia, are likely to get back less than 10 cents for every dollar they invested.
Analysts warn that the emergence of DeepSeek’s low-cost, open-source large language models might cool the artificial intelligence frenzy and thus cap SoftBank's investment performance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2025
Bears circle SoftBank as DeepSeek clouds outlook for Stargate
DeepSeek’s low-cost AI model is begging the question of whether such massive spending on Stargate is even necessary.
Volatility in the Vision Fund’s quarterly performance consistently dogs SoftBank, which has embarked on a project with OpenAI to invest $500 billion on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2025
SoftBank swings to a loss ahead of big Stargate AI bet
The Tokyo-based company reported a net loss of ¥369.2 billion ($2.4 billion) for the fiscal third quarter amid volatility in its Vision Fund unit.
SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son announces the Stargate Project, an artificial intelligence venture with OpenAI, during a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 3.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025
SoftBank eyes debt-heavy financing for $500 billion AI push
SoftBank and OpenAI’s push to build out tens of gigawatts of datacenter capacity has the potential to be the biggest rollout of computing power ever.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Ampere Computing, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025
SoftBank nears deal to acquire chip designer Ampere
SoftBank is discussing a deal that could value the Oracle-backed chip designer at about $6.5 billion, including debt.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (right) and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an event on Monday to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2025
SoftBank forms joint venture with OpenAI in enterprise play
SoftBank and OpenAI said that the joint venture will help large Japanese enterprises in the adoption and training of Cristal intelligence in order to improve their businesses.
Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion in OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2025
SoftBank in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI
SoftBank has already committed $15 billion to Project Stargate, a joint venture with OpenAI to build data centers and other AI infrastructure.
SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son has said the firm plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 29, 2025
SoftBank in talks to lead $500 million AI robotics funding
The startup Skild is developing software that will allow robots to perform increasingly complicated tasks.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on Stargate, as Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman look on in the Roosevelt room at the White House.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2025
SoftBank to help fund and lead Trump-backed Stargate AI project, a $500 billion venture
The president said it will be the largest AI infrastructure ever built and that it will help counter technology threats from China and other countries.
SoftBank's Arm Holdings may be interested in taking over chip designer Ampere Computing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 14, 2025
SoftBank's chip designer Arm considers acquiring Ampere Computing
Oracle-backed Ampere makes processors for data center machinery using Arm’s technology.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump embraces SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2024
SoftBank pledges $100 billion U.S. investment at Trump event
SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son’s announcement this time marks the highest-profile commitment by a company to expand investment in the U.S. since Trump’s election win.
SoftBank is unhappy that Moody's continues to issue ratings on the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024
SoftBank blasts Moody’s for unsolicited ratings
It says it is considering legal action against the agency, which has continued to publish unsolicited ratings of the company over the past several years.
SoftBank Group will make a tender offer allowing OpenAI employees to cash in shares if they choose.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024
SoftBank seeks to buy $1.5 billion OpenAI shares from employees
SoftBank will make a tender offer for the stock, allowing OpenAI employees to cash in shares if they choose.
SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son (right) and Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia, take part in a fireside chat at the Nvidia AI Summit Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 19, 2024
Masayoshi Son is trying to make up for past mistakes
SoftBank, once Nvidia’s top shareholder, dumped its stake — oops! — before the chipmaker became one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Masayoshi Son (front, center) poses with the members of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks after the team won the Pacific League championship at Kyocera Dome Osaka on Sept. 23.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Nov 18, 2024
Masayoshi Son’s aim for SoftBank Hawks remains, 20 years after buyout
This year, the team became Pacific League champions for the first time in four years. But its owner has loftier goals.
Jensen Huang (left), co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, and Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, during a fireside chat at the Nvidia AI Summit Japan on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 13, 2024
SoftBank plans first supercomputer with Nvidia Blackwell chips
Nvidia’s chips have become a prized commodity for the world’s biggest tech companies, which use the components to develop and run AI models.
Ozeki Onosato on doorstep of yokozuna promotion after latest title
Onosato celebrates after winning the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka on Sunday.
Japan's first foreign swordsmith opens workshop in Hiroshima Prefecture
Johan Leutwiler checks a sword he made at his workshop studio in the Kui district of Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture.
Tokyo court strips Unification Church of religious corporation status
Nobuya Fukumoto (far left), a lawyer for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, is surrounded by the media at the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday after it ordered the group to be stripped of its religious corporation status.
Japan launches new Joint Operations Command to unify SDF branches
The head of the Self-Defense Forces' new Joint Operations Command, Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo, inspects an honor guard Monday morning at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo.
Applications for forgery-proof passports start in Japan
New Japanese passports will be printed using laser technology based on banknote printing techniques, making forgery more difficult.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Cherry blossom season kicks off in Tokyo after warm weekend
Blooms are seen on the Meteorological Agency's sample cherry tree at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Monday.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.
Stay at home if Mount Fuji erupts, government panel says
Mount Fuji in November. For the first time, the government has released specific guidelines on how residents should act in the event that Mount Fuji erupts.
In pictures: Tokyo's weeklong celebration of baseball's best
Shohei Ohtani belts a home run in the fifth inning of the second game of the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties
By Anton L. Delgado

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