SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son to CNBC

The AI revolution is 50 times bigger than the dotcom revolution in the 2000s, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told CNBC Monday.

“I think this is like more than 10x, probably 50x bigger than dotcom,” Son told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal in Paris, a day after the company announced that it’s investing 75 billion euros ($87 billion) to build AI infrastructure in France, including 5 GW of AI data center capacity.

The SoftBank chief said the dotcom crash experienced a painful burst, which proved to be just a small bump in a much bigger long-term growth story.

“This is the biggest revolution of technology and realization that mankind ever experienced, so this is just like the beginning of the internet,” Son added.

When asked about his concerns for a potential downturn, Son referenced the Wall Street crash of 1929 and said, “there’s always a correction.”

“Now, if you look at the history, electronics and motorization crashed in 1929, but went up for many, many years, for the next 100 years after that… so there may be some correction, but that will be the best investment opportunity to me.”

Softbank’s investment, which marks the company’s largest AI infrastructure investment in Europe, involves building 3.1 GW of AI data centers in the northern Hauts-de-France region by 2031, including in Dunkirk, Bosquel and Bouchain.

“It’s a massive size of investment coming,” Son told reporters during a Monday press briefing with French President Emmanuel Macron. “We are doing that in the U.S. already, we are expanding a lot in the U.S., so we have the momentum, which we can make France the center of Europe, and Europe needs this kind of AI technology.”

The Japanese investment giant is partnering with French engineering company Schneider Electric to establish a large-scale industrial production hub in Dunkirk as part of the broader buildout.