SoftBank Group’s shares jumped as much as 8% on Tuesday on bets that the tech investor would be able to capitalize on its yearslong focus on artificial intelligence.
The Tokyo-based company is the unnamed buyer of Foxconn Technology Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ohio and plans to incorporate the facility into its $500 billion Stargate data center project with OpenAI and Oracle.
That’s spurring optimism that SoftBank may be able to kick-start the stalled Stargate endeavor and benefit from a rush to build AI hardware in the U.S. Its stock is up for the fifth straight day and on track to close at a record.
SoftBank has been gradually cashing in on some of its Vision Fund bets in recent years. SoftBank’s stock also received a boost after a report emerged that the Japanese company has picked investment banks for a possible initial public offering for Japanese payments app operator PayPay. PayPay was originally set up through a venture with former Vision Fund portfolio company Paytm.
Last week, Foxconn’s flagship unit Hon Hai Precision Industry said it had agreed to sell the EV plant to a buyer it referred to as Crescent Dune for $375 million without identifying the company behind the entity.
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