SoftBank Taps Arm CEO Rene Haas to Lead International AI Push

SBGI is an operating platform that oversees certain international subsidiaries of SoftBank Group Corp.

In his expanded role, Haas will support coordination across companies in the SBGI portfolio focused on semiconductors and artificial intelligence, with the aim of further enhancing operational efficiency, the company said.

Haas will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer of Arm and remain a member of its Board of Directors.

Arm, in which SoftBank Group holds a majority stake, is a foundational compute platform for AI, delivering power-efficient, high-performance computing.

According to the company, Arm's platform spans foundational technologies, advanced compute subsystems and purpose-built silicon, and supports an ecosystem of over 22 million developers.

The leadership rejig comes as SoftBank continues to build on its landmark 2016 acquisition of Arm, widely seen as a pivotal bet on the future of mobile computing and chip architecture. The British firm remains a cornerstone of SoftBank's technology portfolio and a key enabler in the global AI supply chain.

In recent years, SoftBank Group has accelerated its pivot towards artificial intelligence, backing large-scale infrastructure and frontier AI companies. SoftBank has emerged as one of the prominent investors in OpenAI, committing tens of billions of dollars and partnering on initiatives such as the Stargate AI infrastructure project.

By 2025, SoftBank had built a significant stake in OpenAI, positioning itself among the top shareholders as it seeks to capitalise on the rapid adoption of generative AI technologies.

The company has also been raising fresh capital to sustain its aggressive investment cycle, including recent bond issuances partly aimed at funding follow-on investments in OpenAI.

SoftBank's broader strategy reflects founder Masayoshi Son's long-standing vision of leading the development of artificial super intelligence, with the group increasingly aligning its assets, from chips to data infrastructure, under a unified AI-centric framework.

The appointment of Haas will strengthen that integration, reinforcing SoftBank's ambition to remain at the forefront of the global AI race, according to the statment.

The SoftBank Group comprises SoftBank Group Corp., an investment holding company with stakes in AI, smart robotics, IoT, telecommunications, internet services, and clean energy technology providers, as well as the SoftBank Vision Funds.

- ANI