SoftBank Group’s Vision Fund plans to lay off nearly twenty percent of its over 300 global employees as founder Masayoshi Son directs the investment arm to refocus from broad startup bets toward ambitious artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and model-building.

The reorganisation marks the third round of reductions at the fund since 2022, though this round comes after its strongest quarterly performance since mid-2021, driven by gains in companies such as Nvidia and Coupang.

The restructuring is intended to funnel resources toward key, high-conviction AI ventures, including the Stargate project—a proposed U.S. data-centre infrastructure effort in partnership with OpenAI.

Over the past year, Vision Fund 2 has invested roughly US$9.7 billion into AI-related initiatives and has taken stakes in chip-design and infrastructure companies including Arm, Graphcore, Ampere, Intel, and Nvidia.

SoftBank remains in a liquid position, holding about 4 trillion yen (nearly US$27 billion) in cash, according to its chief financial officer Yoshimitsu Goto, enabling it to maintain its aggressive long-term strategy.

The memo seen by sources and a fund spokesperson affirmed that the layoffs aim to “adjust the organisation to best execute our long-term strategy — making bold, high-conviction investments in AI and breakthrough technologies, and creating long-term value for our stakeholders”.

While improved market performance provides a stronger backdrop for this shift, analysts note execution risks.

Projects such as Stargate and other infrastructure collaborations have faced delays.

Yet the move reflects Son’s conviction that the next phase of AI growth will demand vertically integrated infrastructure: chips, data centres, and foundational model investment, rather than backing many disparate early-stage startups.