SoftBank Group Corp (TYO:9984) has quietly built up a $4 billion stake in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The stake is equal to 4.9 percent of the company’s total outstanding shares.
SoftBank is betting big on the technology sector. The Japanese company set up the $100 billion Vision Fund to invest in companies and startups worldwide. SoftBank expects to invest at least $25 billion over the next five years.
“With the establishment of the SoftBank Vision Fund, we will be able to step up investments in technology companies globally. Over the next decade, the SoftBank Vision Fund will be the biggest investor in the technology sector. We will further accelerate the Information Revolution by contributing to its development,” Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, said last year.
Son has invested in startups in China, India and the United States as well as acquired stakes in companies including ARM Holdings Plc and Sprint Corp.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the biggest maker of graphics chips used in gaming computers. The stock is up more than 28% so far this year. During the last 12 months, the chip maker’s share price has surged over 209%.
NVIDIA reported impressive results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2017. The company posted revenue of $1.9 billion, up 48% from $1.3 billion a year earlier. It booked net income of $533 million, up 103% from $263 million in the same quarter a year ago. Its earnings per share was $0.85, up from $0.46 a year ago.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement that the company’s data center GPU computing business nearly tripled from last year. Deep learning and AI are “the most important technology force of our time,” Huang said.
Meanwhile, shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) closed down 1.35% on Tuesday.
