Japan's SoftBank is in talks to invest as much as $25 billion into ChatGPT maker OpenAI, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

SoftBank ($SFTBF) is set to lead a $500 million investing round in artificial intelligence robotics start-up Skild AI, in a move that could value

A small group of seven companies, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, have become so dominant that they alone contributed to more than half of the S&P 500’s

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is shifting his focus away from investments in China and toward the US, as seen with his involvement with President Donald Trump and the recently announced Stargate.

SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI as part of a broader partnership that could see the Japanese conglomerate spend more than $40

Shares of Japanese chip-related firms were feeling the heat on Monday. Today’s slump comes as Chinese AI startup DeepSeek gained traction with its updated AI model, raising fears about potential challenges to US technological dominance.

Chinese startup DeepSeek has shaken the belief that only a few firms with huge budgets can compete in the artificial intelligence field — potentially challenging an investment case that rewarded the biggest players with rich valuations.

DeepSeek threatens to disrupt the AI sector in a similar way to how Chinese companies have already upended industries such as EVs and mining.

In international markets, chipmaking and electrification companies saw pressure on the fears over the DeepSeek AI service. SoftBank -- the company that said it would fund up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure as well as the main shareholder of microchip designer ARM -- saw its stock dive 8%.

The partnership formed by Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank is due to invest up to $500 billion. SoftBank's shares rose 3.7% on Thursday in Tokyo trading after jumping 11% the day before. Elsewhere in Asia, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.6% to 8,383.50, while the Kospi in Seoul lost 0.8% to 2,526.98.

On the second day of his presidency on Tuesday, Donald Trump announced the Stargate Project, a $500 billion joint venture among OpenAI, Softbank, Oracle, and MGX, to build AI-focused data centres across the US.

President Donald Trump has announced the Stargate initiative, a significant collaboration involving OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, with an initial investment of $100 billion. The project aims to enhance the U.