May 8 - SoftBank Corp has entered talks with U.S. chip maker Nvidia and Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn as it considers building domestically produced artificial intelligence servers, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Friday.
According to the report, SoftBank’s intention is to establish a production system that begins by assembling components sourced from outside the company, with that initial assembly work targeted to start by the end of the decade. Over time, the plan would see SoftBank take responsibility for the entire manufacturing process.
The unit under consideration would concentrate on high-performance server hardware designed to operate advanced graphics processing units at high speeds. The report said the project could be incorporated into SoftBank’s medium-term management plan, which may be announced as soon as Monday.
Separately, the report noted that the broader SoftBank Group, led by Masayoshi Son, has invested more than $30 billion in OpenAI to date, taking a stake of about 11% as part of a concentrated bet on developers of large language models.
Context and intent
The discussions as described focus on constructing a domestic capability for high-performance AI servers. The approach outlined in the report is staged: an initial phase of assembling externally sourced components within Japan by the decade’s end, followed by a progression toward internal, end-to-end manufacturing. The planned server products would be optimized for running advanced GPUs at high speeds.
Timing and corporate planning
The project is said to be part of SoftBank’s medium-term management plan, with the possibility of an announcement in the near term. The report links the initiative with the group’s substantial investments in OpenAI, noting over $30 billion deployed so far for roughly an 11% ownership stake.
Limitations of available information
The report provides an outline of intentions and timing but does not supply technical specifications, volume targets, or firm contractual terms between the parties. It also does not state definitive dates for when SoftBank would transition from assembly to full manufacturing control.