Nvidia, SoftBank Complete Payment of Promised 82 Trillion Won Investment in OpenAI

▲ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Nvidia and Japan's SoftBank Group, led by Chairman Masayoshi Son, have completed the execution of the 60 billion dollars (approx. 82 trillion won) in investments for OpenAI that they pledged early this year.

U.S. IT-specialized media outlet The Information reported on October 1 (local time) that the two companies recently paid the final 10 billion dollars each out of the 30 billion dollars they respectively promised during OpenAI's funding round last March.

As a result, SoftBank Group's total investment in OpenAI increased to 64.6 billion dollars (approx. 87.8 trillion won), bringing its stake to about 13%.

To secure the funds to be injected into OpenAI and other ventures, SoftBank issued 11.1 billion dollars (approx. 15 trillion won) worth of junk bonds (speculative-grade corporate bonds) at the end of last month.

Amazon also participated in the March investment round, where OpenAI was valued at 852 billion dollars, pledging an investment of 50 billion dollars, which was paid in full last July.

With the conclusion of the March investment round, OpenAI has laid the groundwork to pursue its next private financing.

OpenAI is reportedly aiming to raise 30 billion dollars at a valuation of 1.4 trillion dollars (approx. 1,900 trillion won).

OpenAI initially explored an initial public offering (IPO) schedule with the goal of going public within the year, but CEO Sam Altman recently stated that he has decided to delay the IPO timing to next year, emphasizing that ensuring artificial intelligence (AI) safety takes precedence.

The companies are maintaining a close triangular alliance in the AI and data center sectors, with Nvidia guaranteeing 105 billion dollars in lease costs for a data center that OpenAI is constructing in Pickaway County, Ohio, and also investing 1.5 billion dollars in SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary and the construction contractor.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has refuted criticisms that practices such as investing in customers of its graphics processing units (GPUs) or providing financial guarantees amount to "circular transactions" or "circular financing," stating that the company only invests in ventures with a high likelihood of success.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)

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