SoftBank shares jump 20% in Asia backed by three major factors

With this move, SoftBank shares have snapped a five-day losing streak and have extended their year-to-date advance to 30%.

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

Shares of the SoftBank Group, listed on the Japanese stock exchanges, surged up to 20% on Thursday, May 21, led by three important factors. The Masayoshi Son-led company snapped a five-day losing streak after this surge.

SoftBank's fortunes are closely tied to the AI boom, considering the massive investments it has made in companies related to the theme. Here are three factors why the stock went up

Strong Results From Nvidia

Nvidia Corp. reported strong results after market hours on Wednesday. The company's guidance was also ahead of expectations and it also boosted its buyback and quarterly dividend amounts.

SoftBank owns a significant stake in ARM Holdings, whose chip designs are used in AI servers and data centers powered by Nvidia.

OpenAI Heads To Wall Street

CNBC reports that OpenAI may file papers for its Initial Public Offering as early as this week, citing sources.

This comes right after SpaceX filed its own IPO documents on Wednesday.

SoftBank has invested more than $30 billion in OpenAI and its investment gains are worth over $45 billion for the year that ended in March.

The news of OpenAI's listing, though known, propped up shares of ARM as well on Wednesday. The stock had ended with gains of over 15% in regular trading.

Another SoftBank Firm Takes The IPO Route

SB Energy Corp. plans to file their IPO papers via the confidential route, according to a company statement. The company has already raised $1.8 billion from SoftBank, OpenAI and Ares Management over the last year.

Initially a solar and battery storage developer, SB Energy has expanded its portfolio to include natural gas and building digital infrastructure for data centers as well.

In February, SB Energy announced a plan for a 9.2 GW natural gas power plant at an estimated cost of $33 billion, which would power SoftBank's 10 GW AI data center complex in Ohio.

Shares of SoftBank are trading 19% higher on Thursday at 5,993 JPY. With this, the stock is now up 30% so far this year.