Shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) edged lower in U.S. premarket trading on Tuesday following news that SoftBank Group Corp. had sold its entire stake in the semiconductor giant, cashing out $5.83 billion amid soaring enthusiasm for artificial intelligence investments.

In its quarterly earnings report, SoftBank disclosed that it sold 32.1 million Nvidia shares last month, along with part of its holding in telecom operator T-Mobile.

SoftBank’s Chief Financial Officer, Yoshimitsu Goto, told investors that the move was part of the company’s broader strategy focused on “asset monetization,” according to translated remarks cited by CNBC.

The divestment comes as SoftBank seeks to deepen its exposure to OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, which has become emblematic of the global AI boom.

Earlier this year, the Tokyo-based conglomerate agreed to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a $300 billion valuation. More recently, it joined a consortium of investors purchasing $6.6 billion in OpenAI shares from employees, marking a new valuation of $500 billion for the AI firm.

Still, growing skepticism surrounds the scale of AI spending among major tech companies. Some investors have voiced concerns about when — or if — these massive capital outlays will deliver returns.

According to Reuters, Goto acknowledged the debate but emphasized SoftBank’s commitment to AI investment: “There are various opinions […] SoftBank’s position is that the risk of not investing is far greater than the risk of investing.”

The Nvidia stake sale, combined with substantial gains at SoftBank’s Vision Fund, helped double the firm’s net profit for its fiscal second quarter compared to a year earlier. Profit attributable to shareholders surged to 2.502 trillion yen ($16.3 billion) for the July–September period, far exceeding Bloomberg’s forecast of 418.23 billion yen.

Despite exiting Nvidia’s stock, SoftBank remains indirectly tied to the AI chip leader through its other ventures, including the $500 billion Stargate project, which aims to build large-scale data centers across the United States, CNBC added.

Nvidia stock price

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