SoftBank beats profit expectations as chip bets compensate for muted AI gains

For the three months to June, SoftBank booked gains from its bets on Intel, whose shares more than tripled during the quarter. SoftBank Group has reported a smaller-than-expected decline in quarterly net income, helped by a rally in its chip-stock holdings while it awaits further gains from its bets on OpenAI. The Tokyo-based technology investor's net income fell 18% to ¥347.3 billion ($2.2 billion) in its fiscal first quarter after unrealized gains on its bets on chipmakers countered startup valuation declines. That compares with a market estimate of about ¥166 billion, based on the average of four analysts polled. OpenAI's Japanese backer is in the spotlight alongside concerns about the climbing debt levels artificial intelligence service providers are taking on so they can spend hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers and other infrastructure.