OpenAI, SoftBank Team Up to Develop AI for Japan Businesses

SoftBank companies to spend $3 billion a year on OpenAI tools
Masayoshi Son joins US tech companies’ push to spend big on AI

Sam Altman, right, with Masayoshi Son in Tokyo on Feb. 3.Photographer: Kosuke Okahara/Bloomberg

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By Min-Jeong Lee, Koh Yoshida, and Akemi Terukina

February 3, 2025 at 1:33 AM UTC

Updated on

February 3, 2025 at 10:55 AM UTC

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OpenAI and SoftBank Group Corp. are joining forces in a joint venture to sell AI services to businesses across Japan, one of the broadest efforts yet to sell the fast-growing startup’s tools to enterprise customers outside of the US.

OpenAI chief Sam Altman is on a global tour jetting between Tokyo, Seoul, New Delhi, Dubai and Germany. On Monday, he and SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son took to a Tokyo stage to outline a 50-50 venture between OpenAI and SoftBank’s telecom arm SoftBank Corp. before a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.