At SoftBank's 2026 corporate conference in Tokyo, Masayoshi Son projected that artificial intelligence development will require $5 trillion in annual spending by 2040. He challenged the notion that AI is a bubble, emphasizing the scale and inevitability of AI’s transformation of the global economy.
- Masayoshi Son forecasts $5 trillion yearly AI spending by 2040.
- SoftBank has invested over $60 billion into AI firms including OpenAI.
- AI data centers will require triple current global power consumption.
What happened
Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, declared at the company's 2026 annual conference that building and operating artificial intelligence infrastructure could cost $5 trillion per year by 2040. He cited a ratio-based rationale that if AI accounted for 20% of global GDP by then, this level of spending would be justifiable and relatively minor in comparison.
Son dismissed concerns about an AI bubble as uninformed, emphasizing his conviction in the technology’s transformative potential. SoftBank’s commitment includes over $60 billion invested in OpenAI and related AI and robotics ventures, supported by significant debt financing and expansive infrastructure development.
Why it matters
Son’s projections highlight the unprecedented scale of financial and energy resources that AI advancement will demand. His forecast of AI data centers requiring three terawatts of continuous power — 1.8 times today’s global consumption — underscores a looming energy challenge that may drive innovation in energy generation, particularly nuclear fusion.
These forecasts underline SoftBank’s strategic positioning not just as an investor but as a platform shaping the AI future. Son’s vision of a world dominated by autonomous AI agents signals profound societal and economic shifts, challenging existing paradigms about human centrality in decision-making.
What to watch next
Market observers will be closely tracking SoftBank’s financial performance and capital allocation as it seeks to realize Son’s decade-long vision amid uncertain returns. The group’s investments in AI companies and infrastructure will be key indicators of whether the massive predicted spend translates into sustainable value creation.
Simultaneously, advances in energy technologies, including the development of commercial nuclear fusion, will be critical to meeting AI’s growing power needs. The evolving role of autonomous AI agents and their integration into economic systems will also shape how industries and societies adapt to this agent-centric future.