Tech3 | How SoftBank will play the AI game in India; Amazon pumps Rs 1,600 crore in India entity; and more

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In today’s newsletter:?

• How SoftBank will play the AI game in India
• Amazon pumps Rs 1,600 crore in India entity
• Paytm's loss is PhonePe's gain, again

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How SoftBank will play the AI game in India

It's said that those who sold shovels during the 19th-century California Gold Rush became wealthier than those who mined the yellow metal.

And, SoftBank seems to be taking a page out of that playbook with its AI strategy in India

Driving the news:?The Japanese conglomerate is scouting for data centre and robotics companies in the country which can serve as an infrastructure layer in the ongoing AI boom.

• SoftBank is evaluating deals in these sectors and may invest $75 million to $150 million per deal once discussions fructify, according to sources

Sources told us that these could be a greenfield data centre business of a large corporation or a manufacturing unit that leverages automation.?

Pivot to AI:?SoftBank's India AI play ties in with its global shift to AI and chips, even as the mega investor has increased the pace of exiting its Vision Fund holdings.

• By the end of FY24, it had already made significant bets of $5 billion in the AI space

• The company also has a joint venture with robotics firm Symbotic to establish an automated warehouse

• Another recent investment was a $1 billion funding round in automated driving startup Wayne

Hitting restart: SoftBank's fresh AI-related investments would also end a hiatus of about two years?in the conglomerate's frenetic deal-making in India.?

• To be sure, it pumped over $11 billion into Indian startups between late-2018 and mid-2022, and has clocked exits worth around $6.5 billion from those investments

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