SoftBank Group will soon announce a multibillion-dollar investment into U.S. projects during President-elect Donald Trump’s second time in office, according to multiple outlets, likely in AI jobs—doubling a similar promise SoftBank’s CEO made in Trump’s first term that created mixed results.
Donald Trump, left, and Masayoshi Son in 2018.
SoftBank’s billionaire CEO Masayoshi Son and Trump will announce the initiative later Monday at Trump’s Mar-a-lago resort, CNBC first reported.
The Tokyo-based SoftBank will reportedly dedicate $100 billion to U.S. ventures over the next four years—double a similar commitment announced December 2016 heading into Trump’s first presidential term.
The upcoming investment hopes to bring an estimated 100,000 jobs in AI and related industries supporting the burgeoning technology, according to CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.
In 2019, Forbes found Son’s $50 billion pledge was largely fulfilled, though the jobs promise was difficult to track, and questionable, after the near-collapse of SoftBank-funded WeWork.
Exactly what SoftBank’s massive investment will entail. SoftBank, which is perhaps best known for its Vision Fund venture capital arm, is a major player in AI, with a majority stake in generative AI chip architect Arm Holdings and a $1.5 billion stake in OpenAI, maker of the viral ChatGPT chatbot. SoftBank has $30 billion of cash in hand, the Journal noted, meaning it’s also not fully known how the Japanese company will raise the full extent of the commitment.
Son is the second-richest person in Japan and the 56th-richest person in the world with a $32 billion fortune, according to our estimates.
Trump described Son as “one of the great men of industry” in 2016. Son, who believes AI will be 10,000 times smarter than humans by 2035, is a part of a growing chorus of the ultra-rich seemingly bullish on the prospects of American industry under Trump. In addition to the world’s richest man Elon Musk’s significant backing of Trump, tech titans like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI’s Sam Altman all have expressed optimism about the U.S. tech industry’s prospects during Trump’s upcoming term and donated millions to his inauguration.