Japan PM to meet execs of OpenAI, SoftBank Group

Japan PM to meet execs of OpenAI, SoftBank Group

TOKYO
Japan PM to meet execs of OpenAI, SoftBank Group

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will meet with executives of IT giant OpenAI and tech investor SoftBank Group this week, his office has said.

Ishiba will meet with Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of SoftBank Group, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his co-founder Greg Brockman on Monday, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

No further details were available from the office.

SoftBank and OpenAI are part of the Stargate drive announced by US President Donald Trump to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States.

Son attended Trump's inauguration last week, followed by an announcement that SoftBank would lead the $500 billion project to build AI infrastructure in the United States along with cloud giant Oracle and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

OpenAI is seeking to raise $40 billion in a fresh round of funding that would value the startup at a staggering $340 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported last week

Japan's SoftBank is leading the investment round and is in talks to invest $15-25 billion in the deal that would make it the ChatGPT-maker's biggest financial backer.

The investment plan comes just three months after OpenAI closed its previous funding round that valued the company at $157 billion.