TNB Tech Minute: SoftBank CEO Dismisses Idea of AI Data Centers in Space

Speaker 10:00

Many companies are struggling to scale their AI deployments or even move them past the pilot stage. Often the problem isn't technology, but organizational misalignment around goals, processes, and incentives. At the break, join Caroline Roach, a senior partner at IBM Consulting, to learn why.

Julie Chang· Host0:14

[upbeat music] Here's your afternoon T&B Tech Minute for Tuesday, June 23rd. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son dismissed the idea of building AI data centers in space, saying the costs outweigh potential benefits. At an annual shareholder meeting for SoftBank's mobile unit today, Son said the benefit of space data centers is lower electricity cost but added that power makes up only 7% of the total cost of running a data center. Son predicted that the winner in the race to build data center capacity will be decided in the next seven years and said SoftBank will focus on building a formidable data center capacity on Earth. We exclusively report that Walmart is acquiring French ad tech firm Vibe.co for $1.4 billion to better compete with Amazon for advertising revenue. Vibe enables advertising through connected televisions, particularly for small and medium-sized advertisers with smaller budgets. People familiar with the matter say the deal includes a $1.2 billion cash payout to Vibe, plus around $180 million for Vibe's top executives to stay on at Walmart for four years. The deal is Walmart's largest