SoftBank Group Corp. is reportedly in talks to invest an additional US$30 billion (around IDR 504.24 trillion) in OpenAI, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The Japanese company is one of the largest backers of the startup behind ChatGPT, the world’s most popular AI technology.

The new investment plan reflects founder Masayoshi Son’s ambition to play a leading role in global AI development.

An anonymous source noted that discussions are still flexible and the funding amount may change. SoftBank shares rose 5.8% in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Masayoshi Son has sold some holdings to increase his stake in OpenAI and to raise capital for large-scale investments aimed at integrating AI into a wide range of devices.

He sold shares in Nvidia Corp. and recently postponed talks to acquire US data center operator Switch Inc. SoftBank currently holds 11% of OpenAI after injecting US$22.5 billion last month.

SoftBank representatives declined to comment. The first report was published by The Wall Street Journal.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has met with major investors in the Middle East to raise funds for a new financing round expected to reach at least US$50 billion.

The company aims to raise US$50 billion or more at a valuation of around US$750 billion to US$830 billion. Talks are in early stages, and the figures may change.

Despite being an early AI investor, SoftBank has largely lagged in the global race to build semiconductors, servers, and other machine learning hardware, with most funds flowing to a small circle of chip makers including Nvidia and TSMC.

Over the past year, SoftBank acquired Ampere Computing LLC for US$6.5 billion and ABB Ltd.’s robotics unit for US$5.4 billion. At the same time, it sold T-Mobile US shares, exited Nvidia holdings, and expanded margin loans using Arm stock.

SoftBank’s heavy AI investments, combined with the sharp decline in Arm’s share price late last year, have put significant pressure on its creditworthiness, as warned by S&P Global Ratings.