Softbank CEO: AI Will Be ‘50x’ Bigger than the Dot-Com Boom

In an interview with CNBC, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son spoke about the AI revolution throughout the tech industry, saying that it was 50 times bigger than the dot-com revolution in the 2000s.

“I think this is like more than 10x, probably 50x bigger than dot-com,” Masayoshi said, a day after Softbank announced its plans to invest €75bn (US$87bn) into French AI infrastructure development in France, including 5GW of AI data centre capacity.

He added that the dot-com crash experienced a sudden crash, which proved to be just a small hurdle in a much larger, long-term period of growth.

“This is the biggest revolution of technology and realisation that mankind has ever experienced, so this is just like the beginning of the internet,” Masayoshi said,

He also referenced the fall of auto and electronics stocks in the 1929 Wall Street crash, saying: “Now, if you look at the history, electronics and motorization crashed in 1929, but went up for many, many years, for the next 100 years after that.

“There may be some correction, but that will be the best investment opportunity to me.”

Partnerships to build AI infrastructure

SoftBank previously partnered with OpenAI in 2025 on the Stargate project – a joint venture with the purpose to develop AI infrastructure in the US.

Masayoshi said he doesn’t think Softbank is over-exposed to OpenAI in its investment portfolio despite the AI startup making up just over 20% of the group’s net asset value.

He added that OpenAI “will be very successful” amid talks of the company’s upcoming IPO plans.

Softbank’s AI investment – which marks the company’s largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe – will involve constructing 3.1 GW of AI data centres in the northern Hauts-de-France region by 2031, including in Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain.

The company will largely rely on project financing rather than its own capital for the investment, Masayoshi said, referencing the company’s 10-gigawatt project in Ohio, which will soon secure long-term agreements with customers.

“Our own money that we need is very, very condensed, so I’m confident that we’re going to get big purchase orders from our customers that we already have relationships [with], so we can extend that momentum into France,” Masayoshi added.

The Japanese investment company is partnering with French engineering company Schneider Electric to establish a large-scale industrial production hub in Dunkirk as part of the broader buildout.

Political and corporate support

Despite further commitments and plans to commit hundreds of billions of dollars into expanding AI capacity, not all AI projects like these – even with corporate and political backing – have materialised.

An OpenAI facility production project, designed to construct a site in the north-east of England, garnered support from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government in September but has since been put on indefinite hold.

An OpenAI spokesperson said the project, named Stargate, would only move forward under the “right conditions”, citing concerns around high energy costs and regulation.

President Macron has also sought to attract industrial investments to France, including through the government's annual meet-and-greet at the Palace of Versailles.

Recent editions have pivoted more towards AI and France has highlighted its reliance on low-carbon nuclear electricity as a potential pull for investors.

“It’s a massive size of investment coming,” Son told reporters during a recent press briefing with the French president.

“We are doing that in the US already, we are expanding a lot in the US, so we have the momentum, which we can make France the centre of Europe, and Europe needs this kind of AI technology.”