Softbank Group Corp’s stock rose 1.5 percent to a new lifetime high yesterday, a vote of confidence in chairman and chief executive officer Masayoshi Son’s ambitions to ramp up investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
The Japanese tech investor is gaining investor attention as its telecom arm moves aggressively to invest in generative AI, tying up with Microsoft Corp and start-up Perplexity AI Inc and building data centers stocked with Nvidia Corp accelerators.
Softbank’s chip unit Arm Holdings PLC is also trying to position its architecture as a means to conserve energy in devices running AI.
Photo: Toru Hanai, Bloomberg
The rally is a vindication for Softbank founder Son, whose reputation has been tarnished by big start-up bets that cost the company billions of dollars in recent years. The company’s close ties with Nvidia and OpenAI have strengthened its position amid a global race to build AI-related infrastructure.
Shares of Softbank got a lift in part because the benchmark Nikkei 225’s recovery is expected to help the investment firm’s earnings, according to Tomoaki Kawasaki, a senior analyst at Iwaicosmo Securities Co. “It’s getting another boost as more investors see it as a semiconductor-related stock,” he said.
A darling of retail investors, Softbank shares remain volatile. During the dot-com boom and bust, the company lost 99 percent of its market capitalization, erasing US$70 billion of Son’s wealth.
The company regained ground through two decades of effort rolling out broadband networks in Japan, selling the country’s first Apple Inc iPhones and investments in some of the world’s biggest start-ups.
But its shares plunged again in 2021 in the wake of Beijing’s crackdown on tech firms and a flurry of missteps including investments in start-ups such as WeWork, Katerra Inc, OneWeb Ltd and Zume Pizza Inc.
The share rise has also lifted Son’s rhetoric, with the billionaire making more grandiose pronouncements about the future of AI. Recently, he told shareholders he was preparing to swing for the fences, in a move that will make his previous bets seem like “warmups.”
VALUABLE STOCK: The company closed at NT$1,005 a share, on demand for AI and HPC chips, and is expected to issue a positive report during its earnings conference Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares rose 2.66 percent to close at a record high of NT$1,005 yesterday. as investors expect the company to continue benefiting from strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) chips. TSMC is the 19th member of the local bourse’s NT$1,000 stock club, which includes smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and electric transformer manufacturer Fortune Electric Co (華城電機). Yesterday’s rally swelled TSMC’s market capitalization to NT$26.06 trillion (US$802.3 billion) and contributed about 211 points to the TAIEX, which closed up 350.1 points, or 1.51 percent, to 23,522.53, another record high, Taiwan Stock
Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), a subsidiary of Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車), yesterday said it is again offering a NT$100,000 discount for its entry-level n7 electric vehicle models. The n7’s price has gone down from NT$1.099 million to NT$999,000, Luxgen said, adding that there are 25,000 preorders for the model. MG Motor’s electric hatchback, the MG4, entered the market in the middle of last month, with a starting price of NT$990,000. China Motor Corp (中華汽車), which distributes MG vehicles in Taiwan, said it aims to sell 1,600 MG4s this year. MG, originally a British brand, was acquired by China’s SAIC Motor
South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc, the world’s No. 2 memorychip maker, is to invest 103 trillion won (US$74.6 billion) through 2028 to strengthen its chips business, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), its parent SK Group said yesterday. SK Group also said it plans to secure 80 trillion won by 2026 to invest in AI and semiconductors as well as fund shareholder returns, while streamlining its more than 175 subsidiaries. The sprawling conglomerate outlined the plans following a two-day strategy meeting, aiming to revive the group after SK Hynix, its main money maker, and the group’s electric vehicle battery arm suffered heavy losses. SK
Google on Monday said it is planning to invest in New Green Power Co (NGP, 永鑫能源), a solar energy developer owned by BlackRock Inc, to build 1 gigawatt of solar capacity in Taiwan to supply clean energy for its local data center and offices. “Our investment in NGP, subject to regulatory approval, will serve as development capital toward its 1 GW pipeline of new solar projects, catalyzing critical equity and debt financing for those projects,” Google’s Data Center Energy global head Amanda Peterson Corio wrote on a company blog. It did not disclose financial details. “We expect to procure up to 300 megawatts