TOKYO (Kyodo) -- SoftBank Group Corp. said Tuesday it logged a record net profit of 2.92 trillion yen ($18.97 billion) for the fiscal first half, nearly triple that from the same period the previous year, boosted by gains from its investment in OpenAI, the developer of chatbot ChatGPT.

The Japanese investment and technology group reported a net profit of 1.01 trillion yen for the same period the previous year. Revenue for the April-September period was up 7.7 percent at 3.74 trillion yen.

The company, which has focused its investments on AI-centered industries, logged 3.93 trillion yen in investment profit for the first six months, compared to the 2.65 trillion yen profit the previous year.

It did not release an earnings forecast, citing uncertainties in its business environment.