Jan 29 (Reuters) - SoftBank is in talks to

invest up to $25 billion in ChatGPT owner OpenAI, according to a

person familiar with the matter, as the Japanese conglomerate

continues to expand into the sector.

SoftBank could invest $15 billion to $25 billion directly

into Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed OpenAI, some of which may be used to pay

for OpenAI's commitment to Stargate, the person said.

Stargate is a joint venture by Oracle, OpenAI and

SoftBank, that plans to invest up to $500 billion to help the

United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the global

AI race.

SoftBank's investment would be on top of the $15 billion it

has already committed to Stargate, the person said, adding the

talks are at an early stage.

The latest OpenAI investment talks were reported by the

Financial Times earlier on Thursday.

Tech news website The Information reported previously that

SoftBank was planning to invest a total $40 billion into

Stargate and OpenAI and had begun talks to borrow up to $18.5

billion in financing, backed by its publicly-listed assets.

The Stargate venture was announced by U.S. President Donald

Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison at the White House last week.

However, since then, a little-known startup from China,

DeepSeek, has upended markets with a free artificial

intelligence assistant it said was developed cheaply using

lower-cost chips and less data than U.S. rivals.

SoftBank's share price surged on news of the Stargate

project but has fallen more than 12% since the Deepseek-induced

selloff began.

Its shares were down around 1% in morning trading on

Thursday.

SoftBank CEO Son's plan to take a large stake in OpenAI and

meet its Stargate commitments has been vetted by senior

executives and the board at OpenAI, the Financial Times

reported. Last year, SoftBank took a $1.5 billion stake in

OpenAI.

OpenAI was valued at $157 billion in its last funding round,

cementing its status as one of the most valuable private

companies in the world.

OpenAI and SoftBank did not respond to Reuters' requests for

comment.