SoftBank Share Price Surges to New High on AI Prospects

SoftBank Group's shares surged to a record after it swung to a quarterly profit, an affirmation for Mr Masayoshi Son's bets on artificial intelligence (AI) players such as Nvidia.

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TOKYO -

It reported net income of 421.82 billion yen (S$3.7 billion) in its fiscal first quarter, more than double the average of analyst estimates. The Vision Fund logged a 451.39 billion yen profit, helped by a recovery in tech valuations and gains on holdings such as Coupang, Autol Group and Symbotic.

SoftBank's earnings received an additional boost from paper gains on its recent purchases of stock in Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).

The Japanese company increased its stake in Nvidia to more than US$3 billion (S$3.85 billion) as at end-March, helping the Japanese investor benefit from the AI accelerator maker's 46 per cent rally during the three months through June.

The 67-year-old SoftBank founder seeks to play a more central role in the spread of AI.