SoftBank Stands by OpenAI Amid Gemini Surge, Despite Market Concerns

Amid mounting concerns over Google’s rapid advancements in its Gemini AI suite, SoftBank Group (SBG) has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to OpenAI, despite the growing competitive pressure in the generative AI space. At its fiscal results briefing on February 12, CFO Yoshiaki Goto underscored the company’s confidence in OpenAI’s long-term technological leadership, even as external reports highlighted Gemini’s improved performance in multimodal reasoning and enterprise adoption. The statement comes at a critical juncture for OpenAI, which has faced internal turbulence and external scrutiny over its ability to maintain its early-mover advantage.

During the Q&A session following the earnings presentation, multiple journalists pressed Goto on the rationale behind SoftBank’s continued backing of OpenAI, particularly in light of Google’s aggressive product rollouts and Microsoft’s deepening integration of Gemini into its cloud infrastructure. One analyst asked whether SoftBank had conducted a formal risk assessment of OpenAI’s declining market share in certain verticals, while another inquired about the potential for regulatory backlash against OpenAI’s proprietary model architecture.

Goto responded by emphasizing SoftBank’s strategic, rather than tactical, approach to AI investment. "We are not betting on quarterly benchmark scores," he stated. "We are investing in the architecture of the future — the alignment of research, safety, and scalable deployment that OpenAI has pioneered since its inception." He pointed to OpenAI’s ongoing work on AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) roadmaps, its proprietary training infrastructure, and its unique governance model as foundational differentiators that Google’s more product-centric approach cannot easily replicate.

SoftBank’s $540 billion (approximately $3.6 billion USD) investment in OpenAI, made primarily through its Vision Fund 2, remains one of the largest single bets on AI technology in corporate history. While Google’s Gemini models have demonstrated superior performance in specific benchmarks — particularly in handling complex visual and textual prompts — analysts note that OpenAI retains critical advantages in developer ecosystem loyalty, enterprise API adoption, and integration with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform.

Moreover, SoftBank’s leadership highlighted OpenAI’s recent partnerships with healthcare institutions and educational platforms as evidence of its expanding real-world utility beyond consumer chatbots. "Gemini may be faster on benchmarks," Goto noted, "but OpenAI is building the operating system for enterprise AI. That’s a longer-term play, and one we believe will dominate the next decade."

Investors remain divided. Some hedge funds have begun trimming positions in OpenAI-linked stocks, citing the rising cost of AI compute and Google’s growing cloud dominance. Others, including institutional investors aligned with SoftBank’s vision, argue that OpenAI’s focus on safety, transparency, and long-term alignment with human values offers a sustainable moat against more commercially aggressive rivals.

As the AI race intensifies, SoftBank’s stance signals a broader philosophical divide in the tech industry: Is AI’s future driven by performance metrics alone, or by trust, scalability, and ethical infrastructure? For now, SoftBank is betting on the latter — and its decision may well shape the next chapter in the global AI arms race.

Source: ITmedia AI Plus, "Geminiに追われるOpenAI、5.4兆円投じるSBGの見方は……後藤CFOの一言," https://www.itmedia.co.jp/aiplus/articles/2602/13/news088.html