Japanese tech giant SoftBank has reportedly greenlit the second and final segment of its substantial investment in OpenAI, totaling an impressive $22.5 billion. This completes their initial commitment of $30 billion, as reported by The Information on Saturday.
The board of the influential Japanese investment conglomerate tied this approval to one key condition: OpenAI must successfully finalize its corporate restructuring. This strategic move is seen as essential groundwork for the artificial intelligence powerhouse to eventually pursue a public listing.
While this development has been widely reported, Reuters has indicated it was unable to immediately confirm the details. Both SoftBank and OpenAI have not yet provided a public statement regarding these reports.
This latest capital injection is expected to finalize a broader $41 billion financing round that was initially announced back in April. SoftBank’s earlier commitment included an initial $10 billion in mid-April, followed by a further $30 billion in December. However, this full investment was always dependent on OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit business model by the close of the year.
It’s important to note that the tech investment firm had previously cautioned that if OpenAI’s restructuring efforts were unsuccessful, the total investment amount from SoftBank would be reduced to $20 billion.