Masayoshi Son seeks up to $100bn from Gulf investors for AI fund | Wealth Office
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Masayoshi Son seeks up to $100bn from Gulf investors for AI fund

The Financial Times reports that SoftBank's founder has held talks in the UAE and elsewhere in the Gulf to back an AI-led acquisition strategy.

Bloomberg, citing a Financial Times report, says SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is seeking to raise as much as $100 billion from investors in the Gulf. According to the FT, which relied on people familiar with the discussions, Son has met senior figures in the United Arab Emirates and possibly other Gulf states in recent weeks. The money would go into a fund designed to acquire companies and improve their operations using artificial intelligence and robotics. SoftBank's robotics and physical AI business, Roze, is expected to play a central part. The FT said there is no certainty the talks will produce an agreement, and no comment from SoftBank was reported.

The approach follows a long relationship between SoftBank and Gulf capital. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala were the largest backers of the first Vision Fund in 2017. SoftBank has also made very large commitments to OpenAI.

Why it matters: Gulf sovereign funds, ruling-family investment vehicles and large family offices have become some of the most sought-after sources of capital for global technology projects. A fund of this size would test their appetite for concentrated AI exposure through a single sponsor. For other private investors, the talks show how fundraising for AI is moving towards a small number of very large pools of capital in the Middle East and Asia.

Source: Bloomberg, October 9, 2026. Wealth Office summarises reporting by other publications and links to the original.