SoftBank and OpenAI Launch AI Joint Venture in Japan

SoftBank Group and OpenAI have established a joint venture to introduce a new AI service in Japan, the two companies announced on Monday, according to Nikkei Asia. The move follows a recent partnership between the two entities to invest in AI in the United States.

The new AI service, dubbed "Cristal Intelligence," is designed to enhance operational efficiency for businesses, with SoftBank Group becoming its inaugural customer, paying an annual fee of $3 billion to OpenAI, the US developer of ChatGPT.

SB OpenAI Japan, a 50-50 joint venture, will focus on integrating Cristal into various clients' systems. The company aims to have 1,000 sales and engineering staff, including personnel from OpenAI, by year's end.

SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son unveiled Cristal at an event in Tokyo attended by executives from approximately 500 Japanese companies. He emphasized the service's ability to analyze company data, including source codes and documents, leading to improvements in systems, meetings, and even sales negotiations.

Son highlighted that large companies possess a wealth of high-quality data and the financial resources to utilize services like Cristal. However, he noted that the service will initially be limited to one company per business area due to the current availability of engineers. He also emphasized that data will be stored in domestic data centers to comply with Japanese regulations.

The establishment of this joint venture and the tailored AI service presents a significant opportunity for Japan, which has lagged behind the US and China in the commercialization of AI technology. The potential of AI to address Japan's long-standing challenges of population stagnation and labor shortages is considerable.

The partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI deepens as the AI race intensifies. SoftBank is reportedly in discussions with OpenAI to acquire up to $25 billion in additional shares, potentially as part of the $500 billion "Stargate" initiative. Stargate, a four-year project focused on AI infrastructure investment in the US, was announced in January alongside President Donald Trump.