Japanese giant, SoftBank, in a recent statement confirmed it sold 32.1 million shares of chip titan Nvidia in October, a "complete sale" amounting to $5.83 billion. This brings the average price to just under $182, somewhat below Monday's $199.05 per share close. This sale follows on from $9.17 billion proceeds from T-Mobile sales between June and September.
Nvidia's shares hit a record high of $212 in late October. However, more recently investors have demonstrated concern about the valuations and health of the AI trade. Nvidia's stock was down over 3% in midday trading.
However, SoftBank isn't shy from AI investments. Earlier this year it invested billions of dollars into OpenAI, making the ChatGPT owner the world's priciest startup. Last month, the company committed over $22 billion in additional funding to OpenAI.
SoftBank's exit from Nvidia may seem bearish at first glance, but the motive behind the sale is to fund further investments in OpenAI. "We are making large investments in OpenAI,” SoftBank CFO, Yoshimitsu Goto, was quoted as saying. “To do that, we need to use some of our existing assets to raise funds.”
Valuation concerns have been impacting AI shares recently, with some analysts suggesting shorting hyperscalers whose spending has driven business and share prices this year. Yet, there still appears to be ample interest in the trade. As an example, Nvidia was still held by over three-quarters of active fund managers in October, according to a Bank of America analysis.