SoftBank to make a $100B investment in the US, Trump announces with the CEO by his side

US President-elect Donald Trump, with SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at his side, announced on Monday that the Tokyo-based company will invest 100 billion dollars in the US over the next four years, in what they both call will improve the country. the economy.

Trump said in his joint appearance with Son that the investment would create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure, with money to be spent before the end of Trump’s term.

Trump said the investment is evidence of “great confidence in America’s future.” He encouraged Son to make an investment of 200 billion dollars. Son laughed and said he would try.

The US$100 billion pledge, made at a flag-draped event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., is in line with Trump’s pledge to strengthen the US economy and reduce the impact of inflation on Americans in his second term. term, beginning Jan. 20.

Trump called Son “one of the most successful business leaders of our time.”

It is unclear whether jobs were created through the same 2016 pledge

Monday’s announcement echoed a similar promise Son made to Trump in December 2016, then as president-elect before his first term, at Trump Tower, when Son said he would spend $50 billion and create 50,000 jobs.

Although that money was eventually spent, it is not clear if those jobs were created. SoftBank has been rebuilding finances after the budget failure of New York-based high-flying office WeWork, and after some of the tech companies it invested in through its Vision Fund unit fell out of favor with investors.

Trump has a penchant for extravagant announcements promising thousands of jobs, even if such investments don’t always last. At the start of his first term, he announced a US$10-billion investment by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn in a Wisconsin factory that promised thousands of jobs, but was largely abandoned.

It is unclear how SoftBank plans to fund the new investment. As of September 30, it had about US$29 billion in cash and cash equivalents, according to its latest earnings report. After a steep decline in shares between 2021 and 2023, its stock has bounced back, gaining nearly 50 percent year to date.

The funding could come from various sources controlled by SoftBank, including the Vision Fund, capital projects or its chipmaker Arm Holdings, CNBC said.

Son has been a strong supporter of the possibilities of AI and has been looking to expand SoftBank’s exposure to this field, participating in OpenAI and acquiring the first Graphcore chip.

In October, Son reiterated his belief in the coming of artificial intelligence, saying it would require hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.

Son said at the time that he was saving money “to take the next big step,” but did not provide details.

Trump promised last week that he would extend fast-track permits to any company that invests $1 billion or more in the United States.