SoftBank explores homegrown AI servers with Nvidia, Foxconn: Report

SoftBank Corp has begun ​discussions with U.S. ​chip giant Nvidia and Taiwanese ​contract manufacturer Foxconn as it weighs plans to build "made-in-Japan" artificial intelligence servers, the ‌Nikkei newspaper ⁠reported ⁠on Friday.

The Japanese telecom company wants to ​build a production system by initially assembling ​externally sourced components by the end of the decade, before eventually taking ​charge of the ⁠entire server ‌manufacturing process, Nikkei added.

The unit will focus on high-performance servers ⁠capable of running advanced graphics processing units at high speeds, the report also said.


The project will be part of SoftBank's medium-term management plan, which, according to Nikkei, could be announced as soon ‌as Monday.

The development comes after Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank Group poured ​in more ​than $30 ⁠billion in investments in OpenAI so far, for about an 11% stake, in an "all-in" ​bet that it will emerge as a winner in the battle among developers of large language models.