SoftBank’s Son to pledge US$100 billion in US investments
The plan includes a pledge to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure
SOFTBANK Group chief executive officer Masayoshi Son is set to announce a plan to invest US$100 billion in the US over the next four years during a visit with President-elect Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
Son will give details of the plan, which includes a pledge to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence and related infrastructure, later on Monday (Dec 16), said the people, asking not to be identified because the news is not yet public. That may include investments in data centres, semiconductors and energy, one of the people said.
The Tokyo-based company’s representatives didn’t respond to requests for comment outside normal business hours.
The Japanese billionaire joins a number of technology executives angling to win favour from the incoming administration. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will give US$1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund after having previously donated to President Joe Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign. Meta Platforms, Amazon.com and artificial intelligence startup Perplexity have also pledged US$1 million apiece.
Son forged a strong relationship with Trump the last time he was president, visiting the US in December 2016 and promising to invest US$50 billion. SoftBank was one of several companies that made such pledges at the time. The company did actively invest in US companies through its Vision Fund investment vehicle, but later ran into trouble as many of its deals floundered.
Son’s announcement this time marks the highest-profile commitment by a company to expand investment in the US since Trump’s election win. The president-elect promised during his campaign to boost the US economy by cutting corporate tax rates, using tariffs to spur domestic investment by foreign companies and rolling back regulations Republicans say have hampered economic growth.
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Trump also promised to speed permitting for anyone willing to invest US$1 billion or more for projects in the US. While he offered no specifics on how he would accelerate approvals, his pledge addressed a key concern among tech and energy companies that regulatory delays risk slowing upgrades to US energy infrastructure tneeded to drive development in AI.
“This is President Trump delivering on the promise he made to the American people on the campaign trail that he was going to make the US of America the manufacturing superpower of the world,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition, told Fox Business on Monday.
One question with the SoftBank announcement is where the company will get the capital for its latest pledge. During Trump’s last term, Son was raising his US$100 billion Vision Fund with money from outside investors and poured the cash into startups such as WeWork, Uber Technologies and DoorDash
SoftBank does not have the cash on hand to deliver on Son’s pledge this time. The company had the 3.8 trillion yen (S$35 billion) in cash and equivalents on its balance at the end of September.
Still, the company’s finances have recovered with the initial public offering of chip design firm Arm Holdings. SoftBank still owns about 90 per cent of Arm, which now has a market capitalisation of about US$160 billion.
Son has vowed to increase his investments in artificial intelligence, which he has described as a technology that will change virtually every business. SoftBank invested US$500 million in OpenAI in October and is aiming to increase that investment by acquiring up to US$1.5 billion in the startup’s stock through a tender offer for existing shareholders.
CNBC first reported details of SoftBank’s investment plans. BLOOMBERG
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