President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son on Monday jointly announced a $100 billion investment by the Japanese financial and tech giant in the U.S. over the next four years, which both men say will create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and infrastructure.
The pair made the announcement at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Trump campaigned on the promise of attracting foreign businesses and leaders to invest in the United States to improve the economy. Japanese government and private officials, facing potential tariffs and other new trade barriers from the new administration, have been keen to cultivate the president-elect.
“He’s doing this because he feels very optimistic about our country since the election,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Masayoshi. “Many other people are also coming in with tremendous amounts of money.”
The president-elect said the investment will ensure that artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies “are built, created and grown right here in the USA.”
Mr. Trump said Softbank has the funding to make larger investments in the U.S. and said he will press the financial company “to do a little more.”
In his remarks, Mr. Masayoshi said his “confidence level” in the U.S. economy has increased with Mr. Trump’s victory. He added that he’s “really hoping that President Trump will bring the world into peace.”
Softbank, a Japanese tech-investing firm, will fund the investment through various sources, including its Vision Fund, capital projects and semiconductor chipmaker Arm Holdings, where the firm is a majority owner. Some of the money could be newly raised, but it may also include already announced funding such as Softbank’s $1.5 billion investment in OpenAI, the tech firm that developed the chatbot ChatGPT.
During Mr. Trump’s first administration, Softbank made a similar announcement in 2016, agreeing to invest $50 billion in the U.S. to create 50,000 jobs.
Last week, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that anyone willing to make a $1 billion investment in the United States “will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to all environmental approvals.”
“GET READY TO ROCK!!,” he wrote in the post.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.