SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, sporting a black turtleneck similar in style to the late Steve Jobs, laid out his vision for the future of technology and called for partners to help make it happen at the smartphone industry's biggest annual gathering.
Son reiterated his belief that computers will exceed humans in intelligence in three decades, and that within this period he expects one computer chip to have the equivalent of an IQ of 10,000. "I really believe this," he said at a keynote speech at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday. The growth in computer ability was "why I acquired ARM," he said.
This is more than idle talk for Japan's second-richest man. SoftBank's recent deals include the $32 billion acquisition of ARM Holdings PLC, the chip designer that Son believes will play a key role in the development of artificial intelligence, and a $1.2 billion group-led investment in satellite startup OneWeb Ltd. The telecommunications and internet conglomerate is also in the process of creating a $100 billion Vision Fund with Saudi Arabia and other backers that would make Son one of the world's biggest technology investors.