U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son at his side announced Monday that the Tokyo-based company would invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, which the two described as marked an upswing for the country’s economy.
Trump said during his joint appearance with Son that the investment would create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure, with the money to be deployed before the end of Trump’s term.
Trump said the investment was evidence of “monumental confidence in America’s future.” He playfully encouraged Son to make the $200 billion investment. Son giggled and said he would try.
The $100 billion U.S. pledge, made at a flag-draped event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, fits with Trump’s pledge to strengthen the U.S. economy and to reduce the impact of inflation on Americans during his second term, which begins Jan. 20.
Trump called Son “one of the most successful business leaders of our time.”
It’s unclear whether a similar 2016 pledge created jobs
Monday’s announcement echoes a similar promise Son made with 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 this money was ultimately spent, it is unclear whether these jobs were created. SoftBank has been rebuilding its finances after the failure of New York-based successful office stock startup WeWork and after some of the technology firms it invests in through its Vision Fund unit fell out of favor with investors.
Trump has a penchant for making bold announcements that promise thousands of jobs, even if such investments don’t always pay off. Early in his first term, he announced a $10 billion investment by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn in a factory in Wisconsin that promised thousands of jobs but was largely abandoned.
It is unclear how SoftBank plans to finance the new investment. According to its most recent earnings report, the company had about $29 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of September 30. After a sharp decline in shares between 2021 and 2023, the stock has recovered and is up almost 50 percent year-to-date.
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 proponent of AI’s potential and pushed to expand SoftBank’s involvement in the sector by taking a stake in OpenAI and acquiring chip startup Graphcore.
In October, Son reiterated his belief in the future of artificial superintelligence, saying it would require hundreds of billions of dollars in investment.
Son said at the time that he was saving money “so I can take the next big step,” but didn’t provide details.
Trump promised last week that he would expand fast-track approvals to any company that invests $1 billion or more in the United States.
