SoftBank’s Vision Fund has reported a substantial annual gain of $46 billion, primarily propelled by the significant appreciation of its investment in artificial intelligence leader OpenAI. This impressive performance comes despite the Japanese conglomerate experiencing losses on several other portfolio companies, including Coupang and DiDi Global.

The strategic focus on OpenAI has yielded remarkable returns, with SoftBank’s investment gains in the AI firm alone totaling $45 billion for the fiscal year ending in March. The company has already deployed over $30 billion into OpenAI, with a stated commitment to invest more than $60 billion, which would secure approximately 13% ownership. This deep commitment was evident in the three months leading up to March, where the Vision Fund’s roughly $20 billion gain was almost entirely attributable to OpenAI, offsetting declines from other holdings like Klarna.

SoftBank is actively positioning itself at the forefront of the burgeoning artificial intelligence sector, with OpenAI serving as the cornerstone of its extensive AI and chip-related investments. In March, OpenAI successfully closed a funding round co-led by SoftBank, which valued the AI research firm at an estimated $852 billion. However, this concentrated bet on OpenAI has drawn scrutiny regarding SoftBank’s overall debt load. S&P Global Ratings recently revised its outlook for SoftBank from “stable” to “negative,” citing concerns that the substantial additional investment in OpenAI could potentially diminish the company’s asset liquidity, portfolio quality, and financial capacity.

To mitigate potential financial impacts, SoftBank has been strategically divesting stakes in other assets, such as T-Mobile and Nvidia, to help finance its ambitious OpenAI investment. These sales, among other investments, contributed 218.1 billion Japanese yen ($1.4 billion) in gains for the financial year. Despite an investment income loss outside the Vision Fund, the SoftBank group achieved a robust 5 trillion yen net profit for the year, largely bolstered by the Vision Fund’s performance and its telecommunications division. CFO Yoshimitsu Goto emphasized the company’s strong financial discipline, highlighting a 3.5 trillion yen cash position capable of covering over two years of bond redemptions.