OpenAI宣布2026年不上市叠加AI安全减速呼吁，软银集团周一已暴跌11%、亚洲AI股普跌

TOKYO -- Shares in SoftBank Group fell sharply on Monday after ChatGPT creator OpenAI said it would delay its initial public offering and joined calls to slow the development of increasingly powerful AI models.
SoftBank Group's shares plunged as much as 13% before ending the day down 11%. The tech giant recorded its biggest drop since late June and the steepest percentage decline among the Nikkei average's 225 constituents.
The Japanese conglomerate has made huge bets on OpenAI, committing more than $64 billion to buy a stake of around 13% in the U.S. company. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has expanded the group's investments across the AI supply chain, leading to multiple retail bond offerings this year.
However, prospects for OpenAI's market debut have dimmed. CEO Sam Altman told Fortune in an interview published Saturday that his company will not go public in 2026 because of "everything happening with safety." Earlier this year, media reports said OpenAI aimed to list in the U.S. by September at the earliest, with the company valued at $1 trillion or more.
Fitch Ratings said in a report on Friday that a potential OpenAI IPO could support SoftBank's funding profile and credit quality, underscoring the importance of the AI startup to the Japanese group's investment portfolio.
But the rapid development of AI has raised concerns over security and potential misuse. Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei suggested AI development should proceed more cautiously so that safeguards can keep pace.
Such calls from industry leaders dampened investor sentiment, sending AI-related shares broadly lower in Asia. Japanese memory maker Kioxia Holdings saw its shares fall over 6% while South Korea's Samsung Electronics shed 4%.
At one point, Japan's benchmark Nikkei Stock Average fell over 1,200 points, or 2%, to slip below the 63,000 mark in intraday trading for the first time in more than a month. The blue-chip gauge pared some of its losses and closed down 0.8% at 63,492.99. In South Korea, the KOSPI slipped more than 3%, while Taiwan's Taiex fell nearly 1%.
Asian equities have faced downward pressure from other sources as well, with Monday's slide coming on the back of significant falls on Friday as the conflict in the Middle East pushes oil prices higher. Brent futures remained elevated on Monday, at one point trading up more than 3% at $108 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude also rose more than 3%, approaching a four-month high of $104 per barrel.