SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Sees Fusion Power as Key to AI’s Future

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son Sees Fusion Power as Key to AI’s Future SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said that in the not-so-distant future, nuclear fusion technology will offer the most realistic solution for powering AI data centers’ ballooning needs. Natural gas will provide the bulk of data centers’ power needs for the time being, Son said. But he predicted that nuclear fusion — the process by which the sun and other stars generate energy — has a role to play, predicting the world will need 3 terawatts of data center capacity in 2040. Many technological and financial challenges remain for fusion technology to become a viable energy source, however, according to BloombergNEF.