Son's AI Hopes From Indian Business

'Son believes India has a significant opportunity in chip design, especially in creating IP that will be uniquely Indian.'

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, currently on a brief visit to India, on Wednesday held discussions with over 20 Indian entrepreneurs, including some from SoftBank's portfolio companies.

Son was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and is also understood to have met with prominent business leaders such as Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, according to sources.

During a lunch meeting in New Delhi, Son interacted with startup founders, including Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm), Bhavish Aggarwal (Ola), Ritesh Agarwal (Oyo), Peyush Bansal (Lenskart), Albinder Dhindsa (Blinkit), Ruchi Kalra (OfBusiness), Saurabh Nigam (ElasticRun), Supam Meshwari (FirstCry), Kalyan Krishnamurthy (Flipkart) and Gaurav Munjal (Unacademy).

In addition to meeting founders of companies already backed by SoftBank, Son also engaged with four-five entrepreneurs whose ventures are potential candidates for future investments.

The discussion revolved around artificial intelligence (AI), super AI, and generative AI (GenAI) -- areas Son has consistently championed.

According to sources, Son emphasised the need for Indian entrepreneurs to adopt an "exponential mindset" when thinking about AI applications, rather than a "linear approach".

"He (Son) believes India has a significant opportunity in chip design, especially in creating intellectual property that will be uniquely Indian," said a source familiar with the meeting.

Son also encouraged founders to develop long-term strategies, advocating for 10-year plans rather than short-term goals of two or three years, the source added.

Sources in the know also said that Son had a one-on-one conversation with Lenskart's Bansal, Naveen Tewari of InMobi and Ola's Agarwal.

After the meeting, Ola CEO and founder Agarwal wrote on X: 'Always amazing meeting @masason!'

'Such an energising discussion on AI, AGI, Energy and India. We will make the future here in India together.'

"The discussion between Masa and Tewari reportedly centred on further collaborations in India and global markets, especially in consumer tech and AI -- domains where InMobi and Glance have established themselves as global leaders originating from India," said a source aware of the conversation.

Son, who has been a vocal advocate for AI's transformative potential, previously predicted that AI could contribute up to 5 per cent of global economic output by 2035.

At the Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia, he noted that this would require substantial investments in chips and energy, estimating cumulative capital expenditures of $9 trillion, reported The Register.

Over the past two years, while maintaining a lower public profile, SoftBank has been quietly advancing its AI agenda, filing approximately 6,000 AI-related patents.

According to Son, the AI space represents a 'gold rush' for entrepreneurs who grasp its immense potential.

Son's last visit to India was in 2023. His current visit coincides with several other global AI leaders' visits to India.

SoftBank has made a total investment of $15 billion in India, funding nearly one-fifth of the country's 100-plus unicorns (startups worth more than $1 billion).

SoftBank is also one of the investors that has seen some of the largest and successful listing of portfolio firms such as FirstCry, Ola Electric and Swiggy.

Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com