SoftBank and OpenAI have announced the establishment of the joint venture SB OAI Japan, with each party holding a 50-50 stake. The goal is to localize and commercialize OpenAI’s enterprise AI technology in Japan.
The joint venture’s first product is named “Crystal Intelligence,” described as a packaged AI solution for businesses, focusing on smart governance and operations.
SB OAI Japan’s first customer is SoftBank itself, which plans to implement Crystal Intelligence across the group for testing and optimization, and then transfer this experience to other Japanese businesses.
According to SoftBank, all of the group’s employees are “actively using AI in their daily work” and have created 2.5 million custom ChatGPT versions for internal purposes.
This partnership is seen as the next step in SoftBank’s closed-loop AI strategy, where investment money flows to OpenAI and then returns through the joint venture, creating a “self-sustaining profit loop.”
SoftBank has also committed to investing tens of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure and data centers in Japan, aiming to strengthen the nation’s position in generative AI and next-generation cloud computing.
However, analysts warn that this investment wave is reminiscent of the “dot-com bubble”: excessive valuations, unclear profit models, and a spending pace that outstrips the ability to recoup capital.
📌 SoftBank and OpenAI have announced the establishment of the SB OAI Japan joint venture, with a 50-50 ownership split. The goal is to localize and commercialize OpenAI’s enterprise AI technology in Japan. The venture’s first product is “Crystal Intelligence,” a packaged AI solution for businesses focusing on smart governance and operations. SB OAI Japan’s first customer is SoftBank. This is part of SoftBank’s closed-loop AI strategy, where investment money flows to OpenAI and then returns through the joint venture, creating a “self-sustaining profit loop.”
