Its entire holding in the American microprocessor manufacturing company NvidiaSoftBank has sold, it announced today (11.11.2025), for $5.83 billion, as the Japanese giant seeks to capitalize on its “all in” investment in OpenAImaker of ChatGPT.
SoftBank said in its earnings release that it sold 32.1 million Nvidia shares in October. It also revealed that it sold part of its stake in T-Mobile for $9.17 billion to fund its investment in OpenAI.
“We want to offer many investment opportunities to investors while maintaining our financial strength,” SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto said during a presentation to investors.
“Thus, through these options and tools, we ensure that we are ready for financing in a very secure way,” he said in comments translated by the company, adding that the sale of the shares was part of the company’s strategy to “capitalize assets.”
The sale of Nvidia shares, the partial sale of T-Mobile shares and the margin loan on SoftBank’s stake in Arm are “sources of cash that will be used to fund the $22.5 billion investment in OpenAI,” a person with knowledge of the matter told CNBC. He added that the cash will fund other projects the company is working on, such as the acquisition of ABB’s robotics unit.
The sale of the Nvidia stake had nothing to do with concerns about AI valuations, CNBC’s source said.
While Nvidia’s exit may come as a surprise to some investors, it’s not the first time SoftBank has liquidated the US AI chip company.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund was an early backer of Nvidia, reportedly raising a $4 billion stake in 2017, before selling its entire stake in January 2019. Despite the latest sale, SoftBank’s business interests remain closely tied to Nvidia’s.