Nvidia, AI Bets Lift SoftBank To Profit After Brutal Year-Ago Loss

Japanese investment holding company SoftBank Group SFTBF SFTBY reported first-quarter results on Thursday. The company reported quarterly net sales of 1.82 trillion Japanese yen ($12.54 billion), up from 1.70 trillion yen ($11.71 billion) a year ago.SoftBank segment net sales grew 8% to 1.66 trillion yen ($11.43 billion). Arm ARM net sales rose 4% to 152.9 billion yen ($1.05 billion). The division incurred a loss of 8.7 billion yen ($60 million) compared to a profit of 10.2 billion yen a year ago due to higher research and development expenses.Also Read: SoftBank May Want To Outdo Microsoft With $40 Billion Investment in OpenAI’s Latest Funding RoundThe income before tax for SoftBank was 689.9 billion yen.SoftBank’s net income was 421.8 billion yen (or $2.91 billion), compared to a loss of 174.3 billion yen a year ago. The gain on investments was 486.9 billion yen (or $3.35 billion), as investment losses on T-Mobile US TMUS shares and Alibaba BABA shares were partially offset by a gain on Nvidia NVDA shares.Vision Fund investments reported a 660.2 billion yen profit (or $4.55 billion), compared to 32.4 billion yen a year ago. This was driven by higher share prices of some public portfolio companies, including Coupang CPNG, Symbotic SYM, and Auto1.SoftBank reported a segment income of 278.5 billion yen (or $1.92 billion) compared to 279.9 billion yen a year ago.SoftBank is aggressively investing in AI, leading a $40 billion funding round into ChatGPT developer OpenAI and awaiting the closure of its proposed $6.5 billion acquisition of AI chip firm Ampere Computing.SoftBank said it and other investors have already committed $10 billion to OpenAI, with the remaining $30 billion expected by December.SoftBank plays a key role in the massive $500 billion Stargate project in the U.S., which aims to build data centers and AI infrastructure. Investors are awaiting details on how SoftBank plans to finance this investment.Price Action: ARM stock is trading higher by 2.4% to $139.38 at last check Thursday. Nvidia Holds Near Highs As AMD, Super Micro Disappoint Photo by Michael Vi via Shutterstock