SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son Remembers Crying at 17 Over Microprocessor Photo and Predicting It Would Come True in 50 Years
SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son recalled on the Blackstone podcast Inside Blackstone that he cried when he first saw a photo of a microprocessor in a magazine at the age of 17. He believed that this technology would change the future of humanity.
Son stated that microprocessors would eventually become so powerful and intelligent that they would surpass the human brain, predicting it would take about 50 years. Now at 69, it has been exactly 50 years. Brain-level computing power has been achieved in data centers, and the next step is for AI to enter the brains of robots, moving from the virtual world to the physical world.
He mentioned that once AI becomes 10,000 times smarter than humans, there will be no debate; it will start inventing new technologies on its own. He views previous investments in Alibaba, Yahoo, Arm, and the Vision Fund as warm-ups, believing that the upcoming changes in AI will far exceed those in the past.
Podcast host Christine Anderson asked how to build faith in big ideas, to which Son responded with this experience. He advocates for accelerating AI development and establishing safety rules similar to traffic regulations, rather than slowing down. SoftBank is investing in the entire industry chain of chips, data centers, large language models, and robots.
Son was born into a Korean family in rural Japan and moved to California at 16, selling electronic translators while attending the University of California, Berkeley. He founded SoftBank in 1981 and still considers AI a core theme, believing that once superintelligence is reached, systems will innovate autonomously.
Funds are shifting from traditional investments to AI infrastructure and robotics. Chip and data center suppliers are receiving orders, and robotics companies are gaining traction. Predictions of superintelligence are driving capital towards physical world applications, while traditional software and services are under pressure.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Masayoshi Son has repeatedly stated in the 2024 shareholder meeting and various public occasions that ASI (Artificial Superintelligence) will reach 10,000 times human intelligence within ten years, claiming that previous investments in Alibaba, Yahoo, Arm, and the Vision Fund were merely warm-ups. This podcast traces his belief back to his experience at 17 when he saw a photo of a microprocessor, continuing his narrative of linking early personal intuition with long-term capital allocation.
SoftBank is raising liquidity by selling Nvidia shares to invest in OpenAI-related projects and Stargate infrastructure. Son advocates for rapid advancement and comprehensive industry chain layout, including robotics. Resource mobilization is reflected in the transformation of early chip intuition into sustained investments in Arm and AI infrastructure, while defining superintelligence as the threshold for autonomous technological invention.
Similar long-term predictions and capital concentration were seen in the early stages of the internet and mobile internet. Currently, AI is in a phase extending from data center computing power to physical world robotics, with SoftBank positioned to transform the superintelligence vision into full-stack investments.
Essentially, this is a technological substitution. Computing power is evolving from specialized chips to general intelligent systems, which may ultimately replace some human roles in invention and decision-making. The mechanism is that when system intelligence exceeds human thresholds, the innovation cycle shifts from human-driven to self-iterating systems, transforming early judgments about microprocessors into capital pathways for robotics and physical applications.
ABAB News · Cognitive Law
- Intuition from 50 years ago becomes capital allocation 50 years later.
- When intelligence reaches 10,000 times, debate ends, invention begins.
- Virtual computing power matures, physical robots become the next stop.