SoftBank Group teams up with OpenAI to create and sell innovative enterprise AI solutions
In a groundbreaking move, OpenAI and SoftBank Group have announced a partnership to develop and market an advanced enterprise AI system called Cristal Intelligence. This joint initiative aims to revolutionise the way businesses operate in Japan and beyond, by automating and autonomising workflows to create new value.
Cristal Intelligence is a custom enterprise AI platform designed as an AI-as-a-Service solution. The system is envisioned as an AI agent that learns and adapts to the specific needs of enterprises by integrating deeply with company data, including systems, meeting materials, and emails. This agent will support both work efficiency and decision-making.
SoftBank plans to deploy Cristal Intelligence extensively within its subsidiaries, including major holdings like Arm, and invest around $3 billion annually by 2026 towards this deployment. The partnership is part of a broader strategy to make Japan a global testing ground for AI adoption, transforming traditional workflows in Japanese companies through AI-driven digital transformation.
The partnership combines OpenAI’s leading AI technology with SoftBank’s strong sales and engineering capabilities in Japan, backed by enormous financial and infrastructural investments. SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son has articulated a long-term vision to achieve artificial superintelligence (ASI) within about 10 years and to position SoftBank as the world's leading platform provider for ASI.
With the deployment of Cristal Intelligence, AI agents will lay the groundwork for even more advanced systems that can learn and adapt to any enterprise's needs. The learnings gained through this collaboration in Japan will create a repeatable model for AI-driven transformation worldwide.
Arm, a semiconductor design firm owned by SoftBank, will utilise Cristal Intelligence to drive innovation and boost productivity across the company. Rene Haas, the CEO of Arm, is partnering with OpenAI and SoftBank to drive unprecedented productivity across the global technology ecosystem, setting new benchmarks, and building a future in which AI agents span from edge to cloud on Arm.
The joint venture (JV) company, SB OpenAI Japan, will enable clients in Japan to securely train their own data in a secure environment and build AI agents that are fully integrated with their own IT systems. OpenAI will provide its advanced AI research, technology, and engineering support to SB OpenAI Japan.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is excited about the partnership with SoftBank to accelerate the vision of bringing AI to influential companies, starting with Japan. Junichi Miyakawa, the president and CEO of SoftBank Corp., is looking forward to transforming Japan's businesses through the partnership with OpenAI and supporting the implementation and utilisation of Cristal Intelligence.
Masayoshi Son, the chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, is committed to using the new products across SoftBank Group's entire organisation and driving the AI Revolution forward. This partnership represents a significant step towards achieving that vision.
The custom enterprise AI platform, Cristal Intelligence, will be utilized extensively by SoftBank Group's subsidiaries, like Arm, to drive innovation and boost productivity, aligned with the goal of making Japan a global testing ground for AI adoption. This joint venture between OpenAI and SoftBank, dubbed SB OpenAI Japan, aims to enable clients in Japan to train their own data securely and integrate AI agents with their IT systems, leveraging OpenAI's advanced AI research and technology.
