Japan's SoftBank Group intends to raise up to $100 billion from investors in the Persian Gulf countries to finance a new wave of investments in artificial intelligence technologies, the Financial Times reports, citing sources familiar with the situation.
According to the sources, over the past few weeks, SoftBank head Masayoshi Son has held talks with a number of high-ranking officials, including from the UAE.
The company plans to use the funds received from Middle Eastern investors to create a fund that will acquire companies and optimize their operations using AI and other advanced technologies.
Last week, the company announced that it had invested $30 billion in OpenAI as part of its commitments in the latest funding round of the ChatGPT developer. A month ago, SoftBank raised $11.1 billion in the largest-ever sale of high-yield corporate bonds.
