When Softbank announced the first close of its Vision Fund this weekend — securing an initial commitment of $93 billion, from investors including Apple, Qualcomm and Foxconn — it also quietly disclosed it had taken a stake in Nvidia.
Bloomberg is today reporting the size of that stake is $4 billion, for 4.9 per cent of the company, which it says would make Softbank the fourth largest investor in the chipmaker.
Albeit, not necessarily for much longer: A line in the PR for the Vision Fund close on Saturday notes that the Vision Fund will have the right to acquire “certain investments already acquired (or agreed to be acquired)” by the Softbank Group — with Nvidia being listed as one of those investments, along with a 24.99 per cent stake in chip designer Arm (which Softbank acquired last year for ~$31BN). Although Softbank of course retains its own ties to the Vision Fund and the fund’s investments.
A Softbank spokesman declined to confirm the amount of its investment in Nvidia or to comment on Bloomberg’s report.
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