SoftBank’s Vision Fund earned $46 billion for the full year, with 90% coming from OpenAI

On May 13, SoftBank Group released its annual report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, covering the period through March 31. Vision Fund’s full-year investment gains totaled 6.64 trillion Japanese yen (about 46 billion Dollars), with nearly 45 billion Dollars coming from its bet on OpenAI. According to a CNBC report, SoftBank has cumulatively invested 34.6 billion Dollars in OpenAI; its current fair value is already 79.6 billion Dollars, representing about 130% of unrealized gains.

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OpenAI bet gains: 130% unrealized gains, 13% stake

Overall financial performance: pre-tax profit up 260% year over year, semiconductor plans accelerate

Strategic significance: the OpenAI bet becomes SoftBank’s core narrative

OpenAI bet gains: 130% unrealized gains, 13% stake

Key figures behind SoftBank’s OpenAI investment:

Cumulative investment amount (as of March 31): $46B

Fair value: $7.96 billion

Unrealized gain rate: about 130%

Current stake: about 13%

Committed additional investment (via SVF2): $79.6B

After completion of commitments, cumulative investment will reach: $6.46 billion

SoftBank’s exposure to OpenAI is the largest single bet in the current global AI investment ecosystem—larger than Microsoft (investment amount not disclosed, but estimated cumulative investment of $64.6B), as well as other major strategic investors such as Oracle and Anthropic.

Overall financial performance: pre-tax profit up 260% year over year, semiconductor plans accelerate

SoftBank’s overall financials:

Net profit up 333.7% year over year, to 5 trillion Japanese yen

Pre-tax profit up 259.9% year over year, to 6.13 trillion Japanese yen

Vision Fund total investment gains: 7.29 trillion Japanese yen

In addition to OpenAI, SoftBank’s current fiscal year also expands in the semiconductor space: it acquires Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion, and integrates it with existing assets such as Arm Holdings and Graphcore to form an “AI Computing” business unit, positioning it as a complete stack of “semiconductor IP, chip development, software tools, and AI computing platforms.”

Strategic significance: the OpenAI bet becomes SoftBank’s core narrative

Chain News Observations: In SoftBank’s investment portfolio over the past three years, Vision Fund 1 was affected by multiple failures such as WeWork, while Vision Fund 2 is a phase aimed at repairing its image. Vision Fund 2’s OpenAI investment at this point delivering a 130% return gives Masayoshi Son an opportunity to realize his “AI faith” in a tangible way.

For OpenAI, if SoftBank’s cumulative investment reaches $64.6B, it would become OpenAI’s largest single investor in history. Given the differences between OpenAI CFO and Altman over the timing of an IPO, the market value of SoftBank’s 13% equity could further jump to around $13 billion. The possibility that a single investment creates the largest-ever book gain for SoftBank has emerged.

But the fragility of this narrative also lies in the words “unrealized.” OpenAI is not yet listed; its valuation is based on the comparable fair value implied by the most recent funding round. If the IPO valuation ends up below expectations or market conditions change, SoftBank’s book figures would contract immediately. The decisive factors are the next round of fundraising ability for SoftBank’s stock price and Masayoshi Son, as well as OpenAI’s IPO progress.

Events to watch next include: the timing of OpenAI’s formal IPO filing and the final valuation range, whether SoftBank’s SVF2 completes the additional investment of $130B as scheduled, and the subsequent positioning of Vision Fund for other major AI investments (such as Anthropic and xAI).

This article—SoftBank’s Vision Fund earns $30B for the full year, with 90% coming from OpenAI—first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.