SoftBank (SOBKY) just pulled off a sharp pivot back to profitabilityand AI is doing the heavy lifting. The Japanese conglomerate posted a 421.82 billion ($2.9 billion) net profit for the fiscal first quarter, more than doubling analyst expectations. The Vision Fund alone delivered 451.39 billion in gains, driven by rising valuations in holdings like Coupang, Symbotic, and Swiggy. But the real momentum came from SoftBank's growing exposure to Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), where a $3 billion stake rode a 46% rally in the chipmaker's shares. Add in another $3 billion asset sale from T-Mobile US and the firm now has more ammunition to chase Masayoshi Son's next AI frontier.

That frontier? A sweeping, high-stakes plunge into artificial intelligence infrastructureled by the $500 billion Stargate data center initiative in the U.S., in partnership with OpenAI, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), and Abu Dhabi's MGX. Son is also pursuing a $6.5 billion acquisition of Ampere Computing and reportedly eyeing up to $30 billion in OpenAI funding. But execution isn't running on schedule. For the first time, SoftBank's CFO admitted that Stargate is delayed. Market volatility, U.S. trade policy uncertainties, and wavering AI hardware valuations have slowed the rollout. Still, SoftBank insists talks on its first Stargate project are about to beginand says it's now "all in" on AI across its entire operation.

Even so, questions around funding firepower are starting to surface. SoftBank's loan-to-value stood at 17% as of June, but with Arm (NASDAQ:ARM) shares slipping and big-ticket investments stacking up, analysts see a potential breach of its 25% ceiling. Regulatory hurdles are also in play: the Ampere deal still awaits U.S. antitrust clearance, and the full OpenAI check may never be written unless OpenAI formally restructures into a for-profit entity. Despite all that, SoftBank shares just closed at a record highbuoyed by Trump's chip tariff push that could favor U.S.-based AI plays. It's a bold bet, but not without speed bumps. Investors are watching closely to see if Son can execute at scale without losing grip on the balance sheet.