SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son (pictured) is reportedly targeting up to $100 billion in funding to scale up the company’s AI ambitions, with a number of investors in the Gulf in line to strike partnerships.

The Financial Times (FT) reported Son has been in discussions with senior figures across the Middle East including in the UAE over possible fundraising, although the outlet added there is no guarantee talks with the investors will amount to anything.

It also did not name any companies or specific individual investors.

FT sources claim Son is looking to use the cash to set up a fund to buy companies and then use AI and other advanced technology to improve operations.

SoftBank’s AI and robotics business Roze is expected to play a key role in the process should it come to fruition, with the company planning to take the unit public.

Raising $100 billion to fuel its AI ambitions adds to a $65 billion bet SoftBank has made on OpenAI.

There is also notably a drive across the Gulf nations to invest in the AI sector and diversify economies into technology-related fields, with UAE-based G42 and MGX pumping big sums of cash into development.

Son has a history of courting Gulf investors, with UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund partnering with the Japanese company on its original Vision Fund in 2017.

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In the second of our special podcast series focused on Digital Industries, MWL‘s Chris Donkin delves into the operational realities of deploying private networks alongside experts from Druid Software, Boldyn Networks and Vodafone Business.

0:00 Meet the Panel
3:00 What’s Taking Off
12:00 4G or 5G?
21:00 The Messy Reality
28:00 Beyond the POC
35:00 Q&A and the Future

The post Podcast: Peering into the private network appeared first on Mobile World Live.