Masayoshi Son

Few people spot the next big trend as consistently as Masayoshi Son. Under his leadership, Japan’s SoftBank pivoted from an internet broadband provider into a mobile phone network company and most recently an investment giant boasting assets worth $180 billion. Today, Son is pivoting again into what he believes will be the key source of future growth: AI, which he’s backing with $9 billion a year in investments. In May, SoftBank led an investment of over $1 billion into British self-driving car start-up Wayve, in Europe’s largest AI deal to date. Under the majority ownership of Softbank, leading semiconductor firm Arm is also rolling out a new generation of AI-enabled chips. But Son is not just a champion of AI—he’s embraced the technology with the zeal of a convert, backing ASI, or artificial super intelligence, to become “10,000 times smarter” than humans in a decade. “Softbank was founded to realize ASI,” he told an annual shareholder’s meeting in June. “Masayoshi Son was born to realize ASI.”

Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son