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SoftBank's Masayoshi Son Dismisses AI Skeptics, Forecasts $5 Trillion Annual AI Spend by 2040

July 14, 2026 at 01:31 EDT

AI Agents
Infra & Chips
Robotics

SoftBank Group chief executive Masayoshi Son used the keynote of his company's annual SoftBank World 2026 event in Tokyo on July 14 to launch a sharp rebuke of AI skeptics, calling the notion that the technology is a speculative "bubble" absurd and insisting the global race to build artificial intelligence cannot be stopped.

July 14 · SoftBank World 2026 · Tokyo

"The AI bubble talk is absurd" — Son doubles down

SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son rejected AI-bubble warnings, calling the race unstoppable and forecasting a moment when AI self-replicates, self-evolves, and surpasses human intelligence.

Son's framing of the moment

Roughly 50× larger than the dot-com boom

1×

Dot-com boom

⋮ ≈50×

~50×

The AI shift

A structural shift — not a speculative bubble, Son argues.

Son's 2040 projections

$5T

Annual global AI infrastructure spending

~20%

Of world GDP tied to AI revenue

Humanoid robots operating

100T

AI agents in operation

A new yardstick

Return on AI (ROA)

Son urges leaders to measure the payoff with an AI-tailored analogue to return-on-investment — while personally steering SoftBank's pivot.

OpenAI

Data centers

Robotics

The bull case

A durable, structural transformation. Son positions SoftBank as an architect of AI infrastructure and says the revolution justifies enormous capital.

The skeptics' caution

Figures are aspirational forecasts, not committed budgets. Valuations and outlays may be outrunning demonstrated returns.

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