SoftBank Corp.’s AI Vision: Building Next-generation Social Infrastructure and Mastering the Use of AI

During SoftBank Corp.'s (TOKYO: 9434) Q3 FY2024 earnings briefing held on February 10, 2025, President & CEO Junichi Miyakawa noted that after the announcement of a new collaboration with OpenAI on February 3, the company received numerous requests to clarify its stance on AI.

Miyakawa addressed these questions by outlining SoftBank Corp.'s AI vision. Summarizing SoftBank Corp.'s stance, he said, "Our aim is to be the best at utilizing AI and become a provider of next-generation social infrastructure."

Key AI initiatives

Miyakawa's explanation highlighted SoftBank's multifaceted approach, which includes:

• Deploying "Cristal intelligence," an advanced Enterprise AI, through a joint venture with OpenAI
• Developing homegrown Large Language Models (LLMs) specialized for the Japanese language
• Working with Microsoft Japan as part of a strategic alliance in the field of generative AI
• Providing Gemini for Google Workspace to enterprise customers
• Building a Japan top-level AI computation platform
• Constructing AI data centers in Hokkaido and Osaka Prefectures
• Developing AI-RAN and deploying AITRAS to bring the AI-RAN concept to life
• Building super-distributed computing infrastructure

Miyakawa noted that, on the software side, SoftBank will continue to take a multimodal approach to generative AI. "That includes creating our own homegrown LLMs specialized for the Japanese language, partnering with Microsoft and providing Google's Gemini to our customers," he said.

Deploying "Cristal intelligence" to transform industries in Japan

Miyakawa explained SoftBank Corp.'s role in SB OpenAI Japan, a joint venture that will be 50:50 owned by OpenAI and a company established by SoftBank Group Corp. and SoftBank Corp. "This joint venture, which will be consolidated to SoftBank Corp., will promote the development and marketing of 'Cristal Intelligence,' an advanced AI that integrates the systems and data of individual enterprises in a way that's customized for each company. It will transform industries in Japan," he said.

Early adoption of "Cristal intelligence" will become an advantage

"While our parent company SoftBank Group Corp. will spend $3 billion US annually to deploy OpenAI's solutions across its group companies, SoftBank Corp. will pay according to how much we use the service," he added.

The first step entails SoftBank Corp.'s company-wide utilization of Cristal intelligence before providing it to enterprise customers based in Japan. Miyakawa likened the process to SoftBank's quick adoption of the iPhone in the late 2000s. "Before we started selling the iPhone to enterprises, we made our employees use iPhones and iPads, did away with paperwork and digitized all application forms. We practiced and tested how using iPhones could change the company firsthand. With 'Cristal intelligence,' we'll also implement it first ourselves. After demonstrating the transformative capabilities of 'Cristal intelligence', we'll propose it to our customers with confidence. We believe this approach will give us a major advantage," he said.

Describing the transformative potential of "Cristal intelligence"'s AI agents, Miyakawa used Level 4's fully autonomous driving as an analogy. "ChatGPT is similar to Level 2 self-driving, an assistive technology, while 'Cristal intelligence' is like Level 4," he said.

Building infrastructure optimized for AI

Miyakawa also outlined SoftBank's AI initiatives related to infrastructure. AI-RAN will enable SoftBank to use its existing base station infrastructure to deploy small-scale AI data centers widely across Japan. "Our AI-enabled base stations will be able to access computing resources when mobile communication demand is low and utilize them for AI inference processing, which will create new revenue opportunities," he said.

Enabling the creation of industrial hubs around AI data centers

Giving an update on large-scale AI data centers, or Brain Data Centers, Miyakwa noted that SoftBank resolved to acquire the land and buildings of Sharp Corporation's Sakai Plant for approximately 100 billion yen in December 2024, with a view to constructing a new Brain Data Center there.

He also revealed how SoftBank intends to utilize the site. "First, we'll be responsible for providing infrastructure, including land, buildings and electricity. We'll also manage and operate the data center itself. On top of that, we'll make investments to install GPUs so we can develop our own homegrown LLMs and provide GPU-based clouds," he said.

Third parties will also be invited to use the facilities. "We expect hyperscalers and the Stargate Project, as announced earlier by Masayoshi Son, will bring their own GPUs so they can provide their services to the Japanese market. For cases like these, we'll lease the infrastructure to third parties and receive usage fees."

Miyakawa indicated the Sakai AI Data Center will also serve as a model case for a new type of industrial cluster in Japan.

"The land and buildings we plan to purchase are vast, and there are areas where other facilities can be run in addition to the data centers. We want to create a testing ground where AI and existing industries come together in these places," he said.

Miyakawa continued, "We want to make it a place for cross-industry collaboration to address labor shortage and productivity challenges while continuing to verify new business models."

(Posted on March 3, 2025)
by SoftBank News Editors