Questioning Musk's space data center concept, Son said that the outcome of the AI race depends on the computing power of the Earth.

SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son said on Tuesday that building data centers in space "has almost no value," directly refuting Elon Musk's push for this idea, and predicting that the ultimate outcome of the artificial intelligence competition will be determined by the computing power resources on Earth. Son pointed out at the annual shareholders meeting of SoftBank's mobile subsidiary that the main advantage of space data centers is to reduce electricity costs. However, such expenses account for a small proportion of data center operating costs, far less than the cost of hardware devices such as chips. He further added that any electricity savings would be offset by the high costs of space transportation, maintenance, and communication delays. When asked if SoftBank intends to emulate Musk's grand plan, Son said, "In the battle of AI, the outcome of the next few years is much more important than what may happen in ten years." Although Son called Musk an "extraordinary agent of change," he made it clear that SoftBank will focus on building "powerful" data center capabilities on Earth. "The preemptive strike wins," he said. The Japanese tech investment giant has pledged to invest around $65 billion in OpenAI and announced plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in building data centers and related infrastructure globally. However, with the continuous rise in computing power demand, SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin have both announced plans to build and launch orbiting data centers to break through Earth's energy and space limitations. Son also acknowledged that the competition in the field of AI is intensifying, but he believes that OpenAI and its biggest competitors Anthropic and Google still have plenty of room for growth. He pointed out that AI is still in the early stages of development, with "tenfold, hundredfold" growth opportunities still vast. Additionally, Junichi Miyakawa, head of SoftBank's mobile business and the third-largest wireless operator in Japan, said that the division is preparing to enter the "new cloud" and data center energy storage battery market in the United States. The domestic "new cloud" business in Japan is planned to launch later this year.