Elon Musk Slams SoftBank's Reported $100 Billion Gulf AI Fundraise: 'Only a Fool Would Give Them Money'

Direct Rebuttal to SoftBank’s Reported Middle East Push

Elon Musk publicly took aim at SoftBank Group on October 9, 2026, responding to reports that the Japanese conglomerate is seeking to raise up to $100 billion from investors in the Persian Gulf to finance artificial intelligence initiatives. Replying to a post circulating the news on social media platform X, Musk wrote, “Only a fool would give them money.”

According to reports from the Financial Times and other financial outlets, SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son has approached sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors across the Gulf region, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The proposed capital injection would support Son’s aggressive vision to fund high-capacity AI infrastructure, specialized semiconductor initiatives, and major generative AI investments.

Debt Burden and Investment Track Record Under Scrutiny

Musk’s scathing remark touches on lingering investor skepticism regarding SoftBank’s aggressive leverage and uneven venture performance. While the group scored historic wins through early stakes in Alibaba and holds majority ownership of chip designer Arm, its Vision Funds previously logged multi-billion-dollar write-downs across high-profile venture bets.

Analysts have frequently highlighted SoftBank’s reliance on large debt packages and margin facilities to fuel its tech expansions. For Musk, whose own AI venture xAI directly competes for global capital and cutting-edge hardware compute, the Japanese conglomerate’s renewed mega-fundraise represents a familiar, high-risk capital model.

Capital Rivalry Across the Global AI Landscape

The public jab highlights the intense rivalry among tech leaders seeking liquidity to finance unprecedented compute demands. As training leading-edge frontier models demands tens of billions of dollars in data centers and silicon, both Masayoshi Son and Elon Musk are aggressively positioning themselves for global backing—Son through massive external investment vehicles and Musk through his integrated hardware and xAI ecosystem.