‘An investment in future’
IMPORTANT MOVE: Son says ARM will play key role in bringing about advanced artificial intelligence
MASAYOSHI Son has news for investors still reeling from SoftBank Group Corp’s surprise US$32 billion (RM129.6 billion) acquisition of ARM Holdings Plc — the singularity is near.
The chief executive officer of the Japanese technology company took the stage at the annual SoftBank World conference, here, to talk about this week’s announcement of his plan to buy the United Kingdombased chip designer.
ARM would play a key role in bringing about advanced artificial intelligence, he said.
That could happen as early as 2018, when the number of transistors on a chip was projected to exceed the number of cells in a human brain, according to Son.
“I’ve been thinking about this non-stop for a year, and the answer I arrived at is ARM — it’s an important move,” said Son to an audience consisting of SoftBank employees,
clients and media.
“ARM will be the centre of the centre of SoftBank.”
So far, investors aren’t happy with the price tag on the firm’s acquisition, which Son says is an investment in the future of connected devices, called the Internet of Things.
SoftBank’s shares are down about 10 per cent since the deal was announced, erasing about 750 billion yen (RM28.3 billion) in market value, while the company faces the challenge of reducing its US$100 billionplus debt load and turning around money-losing United States unit Sprint Corp.
“People think this was a stupid move, they’ve voted with their money and shares fell,” said Son. “It’s easy to look at where your pieces are now and place the next one nearby. This one is 10, 20, 50 moves ahead.”
ARM focuses on small, low-power devices and does not build semiconductors. Instead the company licenses its designs, which are used in most mobile phones, including every iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Son is now gambling that the chips will find their way into selfdriving cars, virtual-reality devices and machines with artificial intelligence.