Masayoshi Son is either the greatest visionary of our time or the world’s most dangerous gambler. There really isn't much middle ground when you’re talking about the man who runs SoftBank. You've probably seen the headlines. One day he’s losing $19 billion on a bad office-space bet like WeWork, and the next, he’s sitting on a gold mine because he bought a chip designer called Arm for a "mere" $32 billion back in 2016.
Honestly, the way people talk about him is kinda exhausting. They focus on the "crazy" investments or the "300-year plan" like it’s some fictional villain monologue. But if you look at what's actually happening in 2026, Masa—as everyone calls him—isn't just throwing darts at a board anymore. He’s building a fortress.
The Man Who Was Born for ASI
In a 2024 shareholder meeting, Son didn't hold back. He literally said, "Masayoshi Son was born to realize ASI."
That stands for Artificial Super Intelligence. He’s not talking about a chatbot that can write your emails. He’s talking about a world where AI is 10,000 times smarter than the human brain. Most CEOs would get laughed out of the room for saying that. But when you control SoftBank, people just take notes.
Right now, in early 2026, he’s putting his money—and a staggering amount of debt—exactly where his mouth is. We’re seeing a massive pivot away from the old "throw money at every startup" model of the Vision Fund. Instead, he’s going for the throat of the hardware world.
Why He Sold Nvidia (and Why He Might Regret It Again)
One of the wildest moves recently was SoftBank dumping its entire stake in Nvidia. It was worth about $5.8 billion. Why? Because Masa needed liquid cash to fund a massive $22.5 billion commitment to OpenAI.
It’s classic Son. He’s famous for "regret data." He actually sold a 4.9% stake in Nvidia back in 2019 for peanuts compared to what it would be worth today. He called it a "big fish" that got away. You’d think he’d learn, right?
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But here’s the logic: He doesn’t want to just own the chips; he wants to own the infrastructure that uses them.
The Stargate Gamble
He’s currently deep in the "Stargate" project. It’s a $500 billion initiative alongside OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. The goal? Massive data centers. We're talking 1.2-gigawatt sites in places like Milam County, Texas.
- The Power Play: SoftBank’s SB Energy is building the juice for these centers.
- The Chip Play: Arm is designing the architecture for the next generation of AI silicon.
- The Intelligence Play: He’s funneling billions into OpenAI to lead the software side.
It's a vertically integrated monopoly on the future. Or at least, that’s the dream.
From Korean Immigrant to the King of Debt
You can’t understand SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son without looking at where he started. He wasn’t born into a Japanese dynasty. He’s ethnically Korean, born in Kyushu, Japan. Growing up as a minority in a very homogeneous society gave him a permanent outsider status.
He moved to the U.S. for school and ended up at UC Berkeley. While other kids were partying, he was inventing an electronic translator that he sold to Sharp for $1.7 million. He also made $1.5 million importing used Space Invaders machines from Japan.
The guy has always been a hustler.
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He founded SoftBank in 1981. Originally, it was just a software distributor. But Son realized early on that the real money wasn't in the product—it was in the network. He almost went broke a dozen times. During the dot-com bubble, he was briefly the richest person in the world for about three days. Then the market crashed, and he lost 99% of his net worth.
Most people would retire and hide. Masa just started the next chapter.
The Alibaba Lesson
The reason people still give him billions of dollars is because of a $20 million check he wrote in 1999. He met a guy named Jack Ma, liked his "crazy eyes," and invested in a little Chinese startup called Alibaba.
That $20 million eventually turned into more than $60 billion.
It’s the greatest VC trade in history. It gave him the "halo" that allowed him to raise the $100 billion Vision Fund from the Saudis and Emiratis in 2017. He’s been trying to replicate that high ever since. Sometimes he hits (Arm), and sometimes he misses spectacularly (WeWork, Katerra, Zume—the pizza robot company that basically vanished).
Is He Actually Succeeding in 2026?
The numbers for the fiscal year ending in late 2025 showed a huge swing back to profit. SoftBank reported a Vision Fund profit of nearly $19 billion in a single quarter.
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But investors are still nervous. Why? Because Masa's gains are often "paper gains." They depend on the valuations of private companies. If the AI bubble pops—and many people in 2026 think it might—those billions could evaporate overnight.
He’s currently pushing to take PayPay public. That’s his massive payments app in Japan. It’s been delayed by things like the U.S. government shutdown in late 2025, but it's expected to be a $20 billion IPO. He needs that win to keep the "King of Debt" title from becoming a "King of Bankruptcy" headline.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception is that he’s just a "tech guy." He’s not. He’s a "bottleneck" investor.
He looks for the one thing every industry must have to function. In the 90s, it was software distribution. In the 2000s, it was broadband and telecom (he bought Vodafone Japan and turned it into a powerhouse). In the 2010s, it was the mobile internet.
Now, he thinks the bottleneck is Compute and Energy. If you want AI, you need a chip (Arm). You need a data center (Stargate). And you need power (SB Energy). He’s trying to own the toll booth on the highway to the singularity.
Actionable Insights for Investors and Tech Enthusiasts
If you're trying to follow the "Masa Way," here is how to look at the landscape in 2026:
- Watch the Infrastructure, Not the App: Don't just look at the next cool AI app. Look at the companies providing the cooling systems, the power grids, and the custom silicon. That's where Son is moving his billions.
- Understand "Regret Data": Son uses his past failures as a literal data set for future decisions. If you missed a major trend, don't just ignore it. Analyze why you didn't have the conviction to stay in.
- The 300-Year Perspective: Don't get caught up in quarterly earnings. Son is willing to look like a fool for five years if it means he’s right for fifty.
- Debt is a Tool, Not Just a Burden: For Son, debt is "fuel" for scale. However, this only works if your assets are growing faster than your interest rates. For the average person, the lesson is about leverage—using what you have to get what you don't.
- Monitor the Arm/OpenAI Synergy: The real story of 2026 is how SoftBank integrates Arm's architecture with OpenAI's models. If they create a proprietary "full stack," it changes the competitive landscape for everyone from Google to Meta.
Masayoshi Son isn't going anywhere. He’s 68 years old, but he has the energy of a 20-year-old founder. Whether you think he’s a genius or a madman, you can’t ignore him. He’s the only person on the planet with the audacity to try and build the "brain" of the world.
To track his next move, keep a close eye on SoftBank’s quarterly "Izanagi" project filings. These are the documents that will reveal whether his $100 billion AI chip venture is actually gaining steam or if it's another "big fish" that's about to slip through his fingers.