New Delhi. Masayoshi Son, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Japan's SoftBank Group, believes that India can emerge as a big country in the field of chip design due to geo-political tensions. Given this information, sources said that he has asked the founders of his portfolio companies in India to work on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a 10-year relationship. During his two-day visit to India, Son met Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai on the first day and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on the second day.

The billionaire CEO met the founders of SoftBank's portfolio companies on the second day of his visit. These included Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Meesho CEO Vidit Aatrey, Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal, Ola Consumer and Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy and Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal, among others.

'India's engineering talent is the largest in the world'

The source said, "During the meeting with the founders, Son said that India's engineering talent is the largest in the world. He said that due to geopolitical reasons, India can be a big player in chip design. In fact, China and Taiwan dominate semiconductor or chip manufacturing worldwide. SoftBank has invested $ 15 billion in the last 10 years and SoftBank's investment in India can be more than this." The founder of SoftBank Group said that chip designing will be the heartbeat of the AI ​​economy. During the discussion with the founders, Son emphasized on the development of business around AI.

Son said that the global capital expenditure on AI will be $9-10 trillion and founders need to look at AI from a 10-year perspective. Son said that making a two- to three-year AI plan will only lead to failure. SoftBank has invested in many big Indian companies like Flipkart, Ola, Paytm, Delhivery, FirstCry, the and Swiggy in the last few years.