NVIDIA Corp ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday said that he passed on an opportunity to acquire full ownership of the chipmaker, now valued at $3.6 trillion when SoftBank Group‘s (OTC:SFTBF) (OTC:SFTBY) Masayoshi Son offered financial backing years ago.

What Happened: During a candid exchange at Nvidia’s AI summit in Tokyo, Huang revealed that Son approached him about a decade ago with an offer to help finance a complete buyout of Nvidia ( NVDA ), believing the stock market undervalued the company at the time.

“Now I regret not taking you up,” Huang told Son during their public conversation. “That was a great idea.”

The conversation took a lighter turn when Son playfully pretended to cry on Huang’s shoulder after discussing SoftBank’s early exit from Nvidia ( NVDA ) investments. “We can cry together,” Huang joked. “Could you imagine if today, you were the largest shareholder?”

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Why It Matters: Nvidia’s remarkable ascent has been fueled by the artificial intelligence boom, with the company’s chips playing a crucial role in powering AI technologies. The company’s stock has surged nearly 200% this year alone, propelling Huang’s net worth to $128 billion and making him the 11th richest person globally, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The discussion preceded the announcement of a new partnership between Nvidia ( NVDA ) and SoftBank to develop Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer, marking a significant development in Japan’s AI infrastructure expansion.

Son, who ranks 133rd on Bloomberg’s wealth index with a $15.9 billion fortune, has seen his wealth increase by more than $5 billion this year, though that pales in comparison to what might have been had SoftBank retained its earlier Nvidia ( NVDA ) investments.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.