SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is reportedly seeking to raise up to $100 billion to fuel a venture focused on supplying AI chips, challenging industry giant Nvidia, as reported by Bloomberg.
The venture, intended to rival Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market, would complement SoftBank's existing business in British chip designer Arm, of which it holds a 90% stake following its IPO. SoftBank itself could contribute $30 billion to the endeavor, with the remainder sourced from institutions in the Middle East.
This ambitious move comes on the heels of a surge in SoftBank's market value, which has soared by $50 billion over the past week due to a significant uptick in Arm shares.
In other funding news:
Lambda Labs: Lambda Labs, based in San Jose, California, specializes in hardware and cloud services, offering on-demand and reserved GPUs for AI training and inference. The company recently announced a successful Series C funding round of $320 million, with the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund leading the investment. Additional contributors include B Capital, SK Telecom, T. Rowe Price Associates, Crescent Cove, Mercato Partners, 1517 Fund, Bloomberg Beta, and Gradient Ventures. Lambda plans to utilize the funds to expand its AI cloud business, including on-demand and reserved offerings.
Sierra: San Francisco-based Sierra, founded by Bret Taylor (OpenAI chair and former co-CEO of Salesforce) and Google executive Clay Bavor, focuses on conversational AI to enhance the customer experience. The startup secured $110 million in its latest funding round, with Sequoia Capital and Benchmark as lead investors.
Xensam: Swedish startup Xensam offers AI-powered software assessment management to assist businesses in application management, usage tracking, cost identification, and compliance maintenance. The company recently raised $40 million in funding led by Expedition Growth Capital, intending to invest in AI product development and expand operations across the U.S. and Europe.
Clarity: Israeli AI cybersecurity startup Clarity specializes in real-time detection of deepfakes at scale. With $16 million in seed funding, the company aims to bolster its core research efforts and provide top-tier solutions for critical societal infrastructure, backed by lead investors Walden Catalyst and Bessemer Ventures Partners.
