Softbank has withdrawn all of its capital invested in Alibaba in China to give attention to artificial intelligence (AI).

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the eleventh (local time) that Softbank had cashed out about $100 billion (133.4 trillion won) of shares in Alibaba. Softbank has supported Alibaba since 2000.

Softbank chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto said throughout the quarterly earnings report that the liquidation of Alibaba’s stake follows a broader effort to diversify its investments across firms and geographies around the globe. Specifically, he said, he would turn his eyes back to AI firms and make aggressive investments.

CFO Goto said Chairman Masayoshi Son was enthusiastic about ChatGPT reaching 100 million users in only two months, and said he was specializing in SoftBank’s approach to AI. Chairman Sohn has been taking note of AI since 10 years ago and likewise established a $100 billion Vision Fund in 2017 to take a position on this field.

Nonetheless, the actual investment was made in firms which are removed from AI, akin to office space sharing company WeWork, hotel company Ou, and various ride-hailing apps. Within the midst of this, because the lack of Vision Funds 1 and a couple of increased as investment returns decreased, investment in startups was reduced to $3 billion (about 4 trillion won) last 12 months.

Softbank had a lack of $12.6 billion (about 16.82 trillion won) in fiscal 12 months 2021, but cut the loss to $7.2 billion (about 9.6 trillion won) in fiscal 12 months 2022, which ended at the top of March.

Reporter Jeong Byeong-il jbi@aitimes.com