Observing the current landscape of AI deals, it appears AI firms and their backers are replicating the circle of life. Except, it’s a profit cycle designed to funnel money back into their own pockets.
For example, SoftBank, investing heavily in OpenAI with tens of billions and committing even more to build AI infrastructure and data centers, has just formed a joint venture with the ChatGPT creator in Japan. This venture will adapt and market the AI company’s enterprise technology to Japanese businesses. Notably, SoftBank will be the inaugural customer.
Named SB OAI Japan, this 50-50 partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI will offer “Crystal intelligence,” defined by the companies as a “packaged enterprise AI solution” aimed at Japanese corporate management and operations.
“Crystal intelligence aims to improve organizational productivity and management efficiency through advanced AI tools. It combines OpenAI’s enterprise offerings with localized implementation and support via SB OAI Japan,” stated SoftBank.
SoftBank seems focused on boosting the AI hype cycle and its resulting income. The conglomerate claims all its employees are “actively utilizing AI in their daily operations” and have developed 2.5 million custom ChatGPT instances for internal purposes.
The conglomerate intends to deploy the joint venture’s solutions across its various businesses, assessing their effectiveness for product development and “business transformation,” before sharing the insights and expertise gained with other companies through SB OAI Japan.
This joint venture emerges as analysts voice concerns about the massive investments in AI development and related initiatives, alongside the soaring valuations of benefiting companies. Comparisons are being drawn to the dot-com boom, where widespread internet adoption led to venture capital influx and high valuations, and other past booms involving substantial spending on unproven business models without clear ROI.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
