Source: Photo.com
On May 13, the "AI revolution" proposed by Masayoshi Son, chairman and president of Japan's SoftBank Group (SBG), began.
SoftBank Group plans to expand its business into industries such as data centers, robotics, and power generation using AI semiconductors as a breakthrough. It is estimated that the investment amount can reach up to 10 trillion yen (about 464.09 billion yuan).
At the same time, Microsoft and other companies in the United States are also making huge investments in the field of AI, showing that global technology giants have entered the growth field of AI.
SoftBank Group said it had sold almost all of its stake in Alibaba Group as the company focused on investing in artificial intelligence (AI). Subsequently, during the earnings call, SoftBank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto reiterated that SoftBank's portfolio focus has shifted from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to British chip design company ARM.
Alibaba's share of SoftBank's net asset value fell to "almost zero" from 48% in 2020, SoftBank said. That compares to 45% for ARM and 29% for SoftBank's Vision Fund.
Speaking at the SoftBank World Corporate Conference, Son said that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will become a reality within 10 years as an AI that "surpasses human intelligence in almost all fields." Son also mentioned the concept of artificial super-intelligence (ASI) in his speech, saying that it will be realized in 20 years and will be 10,000 times higher than human intelligence.
However, Son also mentioned the need to regulate AI: "AI should be regulated in the same way that society dictates the use of cars. Cars are dangerous while being convenient, and from a certain point of view, AI may be more dangerous than nuclear bombs. ”
The AIGC industry belongs to the new breakthrough and new development of the artificial intelligence industry in technology, and today, the artificial intelligence industry has become a hot spot of global attention and a highland that needs to be seized in the field of science and technology in the future.
The industry is hot and sought after by capital
As of April 2023, there are currently 7 unicorns in the AIGC track. In the mainland, Hyperparameters and Xiaoice have clearly become unicorns, Minimax is rumored to be valued at over $1 billion, and Lightyear Away announced that its next funding round has been subscribed for $230 million. At present, the institutions that attract the most attention from leading capital are all related to the underlying large model or the fate of AI leaders (such as Wang Huiwen Lightyear, Li Zhifei, Zhou Bowen, Wang Xiaochuan, etc.).
A number of institutions have made it highly clear that they want to take AIGC as the main investment track, and individual investment institutions have launched corresponding main incubation projects. On the whole, the large army is still in a wait-and-see state that lacks clear logic and targets. However, it is expected that the scale of financing will increase several times this year. With the gradual opening of the underlying large model and the verification of commercial value, it is expected that the financing scale will grow exponentially for the first time in 2024, and the investment will spread to the entire AIGC industry chain.
Summary of representative mergers and acquisitions in China's AIGC industry
At present, there are 54 artificial intelligence industrial parks in the mainland. Mainly distributed in Shanghai and Jiangsu, Shanghai has the largest number of industrial parks, with a total of 10.
As the AIGC industry is in the growth period and the market competition is fierce, enterprises tend to expand their market share and enhance their market position through horizontal mergers and acquisitions. According to the relevant mergers and acquisitions, it can be judged that the number and amount of mergers and acquisitions will continue to rise and expand in the future until the industry enters a mature period.
The market size of China's AIGC industry will continue to expand
According to the estimation of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the AIGC market size in mainland China is expected to reach 17 billion yuan in 2023, and 2023-2025 is the first stage of the growth of the market size of the AIGC industry in mainland China, with a growth rate of about 25%, and the market size will reach about 26 billion yuan in 2025. Starting from 2025, due to the improvement of the industry ecology (especially the completion of the opening of the underlying large model), the vigorous application layer will drive the rapid growth of the industry, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 70%. It is estimated that the scale of the AIGC industry in mainland China will exceed 60 billion yuan in 2027, and starting in 2028, the AIGC industry will extend the complete industrial chain, and continue to expand and deepen the commercialization scene to deeply transform the industry. From 2028 onwards, the scale of the AIGC industry in mainland China will continue to maintain rapid growth, and the market size will exceed one trillion yuan in 2030.
"Artificial intelligence technology has just entered the application period, and the application scenarios in various countries vary greatly." Xue Lan, dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University and director of the Institute for International Governance of Artificial Intelligence, believes that "with the advancement of technology, in the future, we may not even feel the existence of artificial intelligence." It will be embedded in various workplaces where people can communicate directly using natural language. ”
With the popularity of ChatGPT, generative AI has become a topic of concern and heated discussion in all walks of life. Global technology giants and AI manufacturers have come to an end, and the Prospective Industry Research Institute believes that AIGC will have a profound impact on the global economy and various industries, and enterprises will also usher in major transformation opportunities.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Analysis Report on the Development Prospect Forecast and Investment Strategic Planning of China's AIGC Industry" by the Prospective Industry Research Institute.
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