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SoftBank Masayoshi Son: AI will require US$5 trillion in annual investment by 2040, and the AI bubble theory is ridiculous
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Source: ithome.com
IT House reported on July 14 that SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said on Tuesday that by 2040, the development of AI will require an annual investment of US$5 trillion (IT House note: the current exchange rate is approximately 33.94 trillion yuan), and that the statement that AI is forming a bubble is "ridiculous." Over the past two years, the technology investment group has embarked on a massive investment plan to establish itself as a core platform for the AI era. SoftBank has poured tens of billions of dollars into OpenAI, while also funding data center construction and investing in several robotics companies. Masayoshi Son said at SoftBank's annual corporate conference in Tokyo: "5 trillion US dollars per year, which is about 800 trillion yen, you may think this is a fantasy, but I am sure this is the cost in the future." He further said: "This business model is feasible, because by 2040, if AI revenue accounts for 20% of global GDP, then spending 800 trillion yen per year is just a fraction." However, Son did not explain the 5 How the trillion dollars was calculated is not explained, nor why he believes AI will account for 20% of global GDP. Son is known for his bets on disruptive technologies, and his speech style has always been passionate and good at describing future visions. AI company valuations have soared in recent years, as has investment in the infrastructure that supports these models, raising concerns about whether they can generate adequate returns on investment. In this regard, Masayoshi Son once again reiterated his point of view: "Asking whether AI is a bubble is a ridiculous question in itself. I think the person who asked this question does not understand what AI means at all." Son Masayoshi once achieved great success with his early investment in the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the introduction of Apple iPhone into the Japanese mobile communications market, but he has also made mistakes, such as the bankrupt shared office company WeWork. Currently, SoftBank’s strongest bet is ChatGPT developer OpenAI