SoftBank enters the rent-a-GPU race as America looks for support for AI training

ai and ml

Japanese giant needs to find some use for that 10 GW US server farm it is building

SoftBank is set to get into the neocloud business in America, providing resources to hyperscalers and other customers seeking a platform on which to carry out their AI training.

The Japan-based tech investment giant says it will establish a new company called SB Neo, Inc to operate its neocloud business in the US, and expects to start operations in fiscal 2027 (ending March 31, 2028).

In actual fact, ownership of the nascent biz will be split, with 51 percent in the hands of SoftBank Corp, while 49 percent is owned by SoftBank Group Corp. SB Neo will be a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank Corp, which is itself 40 percent owned by SoftBank Group Corp. All perfectly clear?

Neocloud operators, or rent-a-GPU providers, sprang up to take advantage of the huge demand for compute resources using GPU accelerators. They are effectively specialized niche cloud platforms focused on AI services.

But a report from blue chip consultants McKinsey & Company last year warned that the business model for neoclouds is fragile because it is inherently commoditized; there is limited differentiation in renting out access to specific hardware. Perhaps SoftBank knows something that McKinsey doesn’t.

SoftBank Corp says it has been providing a beta version of its GPU cloud service powered by “Infrinia AI Cloud OS,” a software stack for AI bit barns, in Japan since May, and intends to use the expertise and insights gained via this initiative to drive its US operations.

Infrinia AI Cloud OS is SoftBank’s software stack designed by the firm’s own Infrinia development team, which supports Kubernetes-as-a-Service (KaaS) in a multi-tenant environment, and Inference-as-a-Service (InfaaS) to provide large language model (LLM) inference capabilities via APIs.

SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son said in a supplied remark: “The SoftBank Group will work together to deploy world-class AI infrastructure and drive the AI revolution.”

The company also disclosed that it plans to proceed with the construction of gigawatt-scale AI datacenters in Japan as soon as preparations are in place.

How much all this is costing wasn’t revealed, but elsewhere it was reported that SoftBank Group has reengaged with lenders to secure a $10 billion loan backed by its stake in OpenAI.

Lenders were wary of such a transaction at first, but according to Reuters, the Japanese firm is now offering to guarantee repayment of the loan, giving banks recourse if the OpenAI shares pledged as collateral lose value.

Masayoshi Son also reportedly told SoftBank shareholders recently that any talk of a bubble is "an insult to AI," and that "I think it's blasphemy against AI if you say it's a bubble." So we won’t mention that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman himself admitted that we're in the midst of an AI bubble. ®