By Kosaku Narioka


SoftBank Group reported its first annual profit in four years as it ramped up investments in artificial intelligence.

The Japanese technology investment company said Tuesday that it booked a net profit of 1.153 trillion yen, equivalent to $7.77 billion, for the year ended March, following three consecutive years of losses. That beat the estimated net profit of Y703.7 billion in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha and compared with a net loss of Y277.65 billion the previous year.

Its Vision Funds business posted a loss of Y115.02 billion, compared with a profit of Y128.18 billion a year earlier.

SoftBank Group has been making bigger investments after a yearslong defensive strategy as tech stocks have risen thanks to enthusiasm over artificial intelligence and its earnings have improved.

The Tokyo-based company, led by billionaire Masayoshi Son, recently agreed to lead a funding of up to $40 billion in OpenAI, valuing the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion.

SoftBank inked a deal in March to purchase U.S.-based chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion.

In January, SoftBank Group and OpenAI announced a plan to invest up to half a trillion dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S., together with other partners such as Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. The joint venture, called Stargate, will build data centers for OpenAI. The Japanese company has said that much of the funding for each data-center project would come from lenders and debt investors.

SoftBank's earnings are susceptible to fluctuations in technology stocks.

SoftBank's stock fell earlier this year, hit by concerns about U.S. tariffs and slower global growth. That followed a surge in 2024, driven by hopes for growing AI-related demand at the company's investees, including U.K. chip-design unit Arm Holdings.

Last week, Arm logged a record quarterly revenue for the three months ended March, helped by increased usage of Arm-based chips in data centers and elsewhere.


Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-13-25 0317ET