CANADA – 2025/08/07: In this photo illustration the SoftBank Group (Soft Bank) logo is displayed on the screen of a smartphone. (Photo illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Actions of SoftBank Group fell more than 11% following an overnight sell-off in the US market due to broader profit-taking in the technology sector. Other Asian tech giants, including TSMC And Foxconnalso saw their share prices fall.
While the Japanese investment giant recently overtook Toyota Motor as Japan’s most valuable companythe markets are worried about SoftBank’s high-risk bets on AIeven though its stock price is up about 70% year to date thanks to investor enthusiasm for the new technology.
Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank told CNBC that he expects the AI revolution to be 50 times bigger than the Internet revolution of the 2000s.
“Now if you look at history, electronics and motorization crashed in 1929, but rose for many years and then for the next 100 years… so there may be some correction, but for me it will be the best investment opportunity,” Son said on Monday.
The market appears to be “becoming obsessed with short-term dynamics and less interested, if not unable, to chart a long-term trajectory with detailed assumptions,” according to a recent note to investors from Peter Milliken, an analyst at Deutsche Bank..
In South Korea, Samsung And SK Hynix saw their shares fall 1.25% and 2.75% respectively amid profit-taking, after the two companies each crossed a $1 trillion market valuation in May.
Taiwan’s TSMC was down 1.65% while Foxconn fell more than 4%.
Night in the United States, flea major Nvidia fell by 3.62%, while Alphabet lost 0.79%. Amazon lost 2.5%.
On Wednesday, SoftBank sold a 3.25% stake in Indian eyewear maker Lenskart through its subsidiary SVF II Lightbulb (Cayman), selling 56.5 million shares at 508.55 Indian rupees each ($5.32). This pegs the transaction value at around Rs 28.73 billion.
SoftBank shares were last trading down 11.3% at 7,377 yen.
—Lee Ying Shan of CNBC and Sawdah Bhaimiya contributed to the report.
