Japan's SoftBank Group reported a quarterly profit that exceeded market expectations, driven by a surge in the stock price of American semiconductor company Intel.
On August 6, CNBC reported that SoftBank announced a net profit of 347.3 billion yen (approximately $3.47 billion) for the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year (April to June 2026). This figure significantly surpassed the market forecast of 120.23 billion yen (about $1.2 billion) compiled by financial information provider LSEG. However, it represents an 18% decline compared to the same period last year.
The improvement in performance was largely attributed to SoftBank's stake in Intel, which generated an evaluation profit of 1.3 trillion yen. SoftBank had previously announced an investment of about $2 billion (approximately 285 billion yen) in Intel. With Intel's stock price soaring nearly 400% over the past year, SoftBank's investment division, operating separately from the Vision Fund, recorded a profit of 1.05 trillion yen.
The Vision Fund's asset value also increased by $1.7 billion in the first quarter. The value of SoftBank's stake in ByteDance rose by $2.2 billion, offsetting declines in other portfolio companies like payment service provider PayPay. Consequently, the Vision Fund segment reported a profit of 5.4 billion yen, although this was a significant decrease from 451.4 billion yen in the same period last year.
This quarter did not reflect any evaluation profits or losses related to SoftBank's investment in OpenAI. In contrast, the previous quarter saw the Vision Fund generate approximately $20 billion in evaluation profits, nearly all stemming from the OpenAI investment.
SoftBank plans to invest over $60 billion in OpenAI to secure about a 13% stake. According to a February announcement, $55 billion of that amount has already been invested.
SoftBank is pursuing a strategy to establish itself as a key investor in the artificial intelligence industry by making substantial investments in AI-related companies, including OpenAI and British semiconductor firm Arm.
However, investors are concerned about how SoftBank will fund its continued large-scale AI investments and the heavy concentration of its portfolio in Arm and OpenAI. In fact, SoftBank's stock has fallen about 34% from its all-time high recorded in June.
The costs associated with AI-related businesses have also increased. The AI computing segment, which includes Arm, Graphcore, and Ampere, reported a loss of 20.8 billion yen, significantly widening from a loss of 3.24 billion yen in the same period last year.
SoftBank explained that the performance of its semiconductor subsidiaries has deteriorated due to rising research and development costs.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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