New Delhi, 19 September (IANS). The Vision Fund of the Japanese investment company SoftBank Group has trimmed about 20 percent of its employees. The reason for this, founder Masayoshi Son, has shifted the focus of $ 100 billion funds to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
According to several reports, more than 50 of the 282 employees of the Vision Fund are expected to be fired.
A company spokesman said that the decision in line with the organization’s long -term strategy, in which AI and leading techniques will be focused on necessary investment.
Masayoshi Son’s AI schemes include an investment of about $ 30 billion in OpenAI and $ 6.5 billion deal for the acquisition of chip designer ampear computing, facing regulatory checks. Softbank has so far invested around $ 10 billion in OpenAI.
The company has partnered with OpenAI and Oracle at the $ 500 billion Stargate initiative to set up an AI data center in the US and is considering the $ 1 trillion AI Industrial Park with TSMC.
The vision fund launched in 2017 had 474 employees on their peaks in March 2020. Softbank has reduced its assets to raise money for large AI investments and cut its number of employees by 40 percent.
Last month, Softbank signed a securities purchase agreement, under which SoftBank will invest $ 2 billion at Intel. Both companies said that they have deepened their commitment to invest in advanced technology and semiconductor innovation in the US.
Masayoshi said that this strategic investment shows the confidence of the company that advanced semiconductor construction and supply would increase in the US, in which Intel will play an important role.
-IANS
ABS/
