Tokyo, 19 September 2025 — The SoftBank Vision Fund is preparing to reduce its global workforce by roughly 20%, shedding employees as it pivots away from a broad venture capital portfolio toward large, concentrated investments in artificial intelligence (AI). The move comes via a memo seen by Reuters and a source familiar with internal planning.
With over 300 staff globally, the cuts mark another decisive reshaping of Vision Fund’s structure—this will be its third major layoff wave since 2022. What makes this round distinct is that it follows the fund’s strongest quarterly performance since mid-2021, driven by gains in public investments such as Nvidia and Coupang.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is steering the fund to focus more on what he term “bold AI bets.” These include foundational model development and infrastructure projects, among them the ambitious $500-billion Stargate initiative in partnership with OpenAI, aimed at building a large U.S. data-centre network.
Earlier, the Vision Fund also made heavy AI-related moves: investing US$9.7 billion into OpenAI over the past year, acquiring or increasing stakes in chip design firms like Arm, Graphcore, Ampere, plus investing in other hardware and infrastructure ventures to support its AI ecosystem play. Reuters
A SoftBank spokesperson confirmed the layoffs, saying the reorganising is part of executing long-term strategy: “making bold, high-conviction investments in AI and breakthrough technologies, and creating long-term value for our stakeholders.”
While the strategy holds promise, questions persist over execution. The pivot toward capital-intensive infrastructure, foundries, foundational models, and large-scale data centres involves heavy upfront cost, long lead times, and regulatory, logistical and technical risks. Some of the fund’s AI infrastructure projects—including Stargate—have already encountered delays. However, SoftBank appears well-capitalised, holding about 4 trillion yen (roughly US$27 billion) in cash reserves, according to its CFO, as a buffer.
Implications & Observations
- The layoff and strategic refocusing underscore a shift from SoftBank’s prior model of broad startup bets toward fewer, higher-stakes investments in AI and infrastructure.
- With strong recent gains in public markets (especially from Nvidia), SoftBank has financial firepower to double down on its vision.
- Execution is key. Successful building of AI infrastructure (data centres, chip design, foundational model deployment) is capital intensive, regulated, and operationally complex. Delays or cost overruns could temper investor enthusiasm.
- For employees, this means more pressure on performance and alignment with core AI priorities. For startups and emerging tech companies, funding may become more selective, especially if they don’t fit the new AI infrastructure-oriented thesis.
