SoftBank Group Corp. has amassed a $4 billion stake in Nvidia making it the fourth-largest shareholder in the graphics chipmaker, Bloomberg reports.
The Japanese company disclosed it owned an unspecified amount of Nvidia stock when it announced $93 billion of commitments to the technology investment fund on Saturday. A holding of 4.9 percent, just under the amount that would require a regulatory disclosure in the U.S., would be worth about $4 billion.
A stake in Nvidia fits with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's plans to become the biggest investor in technology over the next decade, with bets on emerging trends such as artificial intelligence. Under its founder, Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia has become one of the leaders of the charge by chipmakers to provide the underpinnings of machine intelligence in everything from data centers to automobiles.
SoftBank Group has invested in startups in China, India and the U.S. and acquired control of larger companies such as U.K. chipmaker ARM Holdings Plc and U.S. wireless operator Sprint Corp.
SoftBank invested $5 billion into the Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing last month in the largest-ever venture fundraising. This month, the Japanese company put $1.4 billion into the digital payments startup Paytm in the largest funding round from a single investor in India's technology sector.