SoftBank CEO says AI boom will be ’50 times bigger’ than dotcom era

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Says AI Revolution Is 50 Times Bigger Than Dotcom Boom

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son declared on Monday that the artificial intelligence revolution will be “50 times bigger” than the dotcom boom, calling it the greatest technological upheaval in human history.

“I think this is like more than 10x, probably 50x bigger than dotcom,” Son told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal in Paris, a day after SoftBank announced a €75 billion ($87 billion) commitment to build AI data center infrastructure in France.cnbc

A Record-Setting Bet on AI Infrastructure

The France investment, described as SoftBank’s largest AI commitment outside the United States, will deliver 5 gigawatts of AI data center capacity across the country. The first phase involves an initial €45 billion investment to build 3.1 gigawatts of capacity in the Hauts-de-France region by 2031, with data centers planned in Dunkirk, Bosquel, and Bouchain. The announcement was made during the 2026 Choose France summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.businesstimes

Son framed the current moment as merely the dawn of a decades-long transformation. “This is the greatest technological and cognitive revolution humanity has ever experienced, and we are now only at a stage equivalent to the dawn of the internet era,” he said, according to a translation of his remarks reported by Caixin. He added that even if a bubble and market correction occur, they would not alter the long-term growth trajectory.moomoo

Robotics as the Next Frontier

Son has also identified physical AI and robotics as a trillion-dollar opportunity. SoftBank is spinning out a new company called Roze AI that aims to deploy autonomous robots to build data centers, bundling assets including ABB Robotics, which SoftBank acquired for $5.4 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported in April that the company is targeting a $100 billion IPO for the venture later this year.bricks-bytes

The Paris remarks cap a period of surging investor confidence in SoftBank’s AI-first strategy. The company’s shares have hit successive record highs in recent months, fueled by its stakes in Arm Holdings and its role as a partner in the Stargate AI infrastructure project with OpenAI. Son, who became Asia’s richest person, told CNBC that SoftBank also plans to replace human programmers with AI agents costing just $0.23 each per month.cnbc