SoftBank Stock Hits Record High as AI Bonanza, Nvidia Rally Gush Out $2.9 Billion Profit

Aggressive tech investor (borderline gambler) Masa Son emerged as a big winner thanks to his outsized bets on AI.

🚀 Best Day in Five Years

• SoftBank stock 9984 rocketed 13% on Friday, hitting an all-time high on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and logging what could be its best day in five years.
• The spark? A blowout fiscal first-quarter profit that trounced analyst calls, marking the group’s second straight profitable three months stretch after a long losing streak.
• That’s a sharp pivot from the ¥174.28 billion loss a year ago — proof that when the AI tide comes in, even Masa Son’s wildest bets can float.

🤖 Nvidia + AI = $$$

• Net income landed at ¥422 billion ($2.9 billion), blowing way past the ¥128 billion Wall Street had penciled in.
• ​​The big kicker is that SoftBank has built a $3 billion Nvidia NVDA stake (up nearly 30% this year), plus positions in TSMC 2330 and Oracle ORCL — all riding the AI hype train. Son’s been wiring billions into anything with “AI” on the label, weaving together partnerships and stakes across the chip-to-cloud pipeline.
• Fast fact: Masa Son’s Vision Fund bought a 5% stake in Nvidia for $4 billion in 2017. Two years later it was gone. Today’s worth? More than $200 billion. Your early-exit investment doesn’t look that bad now, does it?

💡 All-In on AI

• SoftBank is fronting a $40 billion round for OpenAI, valuing the ChatGPT maker at a cool $300 billion. OpenAI on Thursday released its most powerful version of its flagship product — GPT-5, just 36 months after the MVP.
• From chip fabs to software brains, SoftBank’s trying to be the middleman of the entire AI boom. And it’s been paying off nicely — the share price of Japan’s tech juggernaut is up 36% since the start of the year.
• Son’s message to markets: This is the new internet moment (with even more excitement and definitely a whole lot more cash in play) and the aggressive investor won’t miss it for the world.