TOKYO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - SoftBank's Japanese telecoms

unit will receive the first chips using Nvidia's ( NVDA ) latest

Blackwell design for its supercomputer, the California-based

chip designer said, as Masayoshi Son looks to ride the

artificial intelligence boom.

SoftBank Corp ( SFTBF ) is also planning to use Grace

Blackwell chips for a further supercomputer, said Nvidia ( NVDA ), which

held an AI event in Tokyo on Wednesday featuring SoftBank Group

CEO Son and Nvidia ( NVDA ) CEO Jensen Huang.

Son is pushing to expand his conglomerate's exposure to the

AI wave, taking a stake in OpenAI and acquiring chip startup

Graphcore, after a turbulent few years that forced the ebullient

billionaire to retrench.

The two businessmen held a "fireside chat" at the event,

with Jensen recalling Son had once offered to lend him money to

buy Nvidia ( NVDA ) as its value was not understood by the market.

"He wanted to lend me money to buy Nvidia ( NVDA ). All of it. Now I

regret not taking it," Huang said, laughing.

Son said the offer was made a month after he acquired chip

designer Arm. The Japanese billionare later built and

sold down a stake in Nvidia ( NVDA ) and attempted the sale of Arm to

Huang's company which foundered on regulatory hurdles.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), once best known as a designer of graphic chips for

gaming, has gone on to become the world's most valuable company

powered by insatiable demand for its chips.

While Son has built a reputation as a far-sighted investor

with relationships with leading entrepreneurs and bets on

companies such as Alibaba ( BABA ), he has also made high

profile slips such as backing office space sharing firm WeWork.

With telcos around the world look for new growth drivers,

SoftBank has partnered with Nvidia ( NVDA ) to pilot a network that can

run both 5G and AI services.

"It's the same vision that we can smell, right? It's like a

wolf smell wolf," Son said of the similarities between the two

men.

"I have two puppies. I don't like that mental image," Huang

joked in response.