Work On AI With 10-Year Perspective: Masayoshi Son To Indian Founders

Japanese tech investor SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son urged the founders of his portfolio startups in India to “work” on artificial intelligence (AI) with a 10-year perspective.

As per news agency PTI, Son told Indian founders during a meeting that AI will entail a capital expenditure of $9 Tn to $10 Tn globally, adding that startups making only a two to three year game plan for AI will be headed for “failure”. 

Emphasising on building businesses around AI, he called on the founders to think in an exponential manner as “AI is not a linear thought process”. 

Son also said that India could emerge as a “big player” in the chip design sector on account of “geopolitical reasons”, adding that chip designing will be the heartbeat of the AI economy. 

“During meeting with the founders, Son said India’s engineering talent is the biggest in the world. He said that due to geopolitical decoupling, India could be a big player in chip design. He mentioned SoftBank has invested $15 Bn in the last 10 years and SoftBank’s investments in India could exceed that,” the report quoted a source as saying. 

Son is on a two-day long visit to the country. He met Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani on his first day in India on Tuesday and followed it up with a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in the national capital. 

During the second leg of his India visit, Son met founders of multiple startups in SoftBank’s India portfolio, including Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal, Ola Electric’s Bhavish Aggarwal, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho, among others.

He also met some of the founders individually, including InMobi’s Naveen Tewari, to discuss potential collaborations in the fields of consumer technology and AI, the report said.

“Always amazing to meet  @masason! Such an energising discussion on AI, AGI, Energy and India. We will make the future here in India together,” said Bhavish Aggarwal in a post on X.

It is pertinent to note SoftBank is one of the biggest investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. The Japanese tech investor has so far invested more than $15 Bn in the country and backed nearly a fifth of India’s 100+ unicorns, including Flipkart, Ola, Paytm, Delhivery, FirstCry,, Swiggy, among others.

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