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Japan's SoftBank on Monday unveiled plans to invest $100 billion in the US and create 100,000 jobs, in the latest sign of how companies are rushing to align themselves with Donald Trump.
Masayoshi Son, the billionaire chief executive of SoftBank, stood alongside the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago on Monday as the couple formally announced the plans.
"I would really like to celebrate President Trump's great victory," the son said, adding that he was "encouraged" by the planned investment and also hoped that Trump would "bring peace to the world again".
Trump called Bette a "fantastic guy" and said the planned investment was "a great show of faith in America's future. It will help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and other industries Tomorrow is made, built and grown in America."
The maverick investor, who made a similar move after Trump won the presidency in 2016, will focus on new investments, including those focused on AI-linked jobs and infrastructure projects, chips and data centers, a person familiar with the matter said. . It is unclear how Son, who is known for his lofty statements, will fund his $100 billion investment pledge.
Son's announcement comes as US technology groups, led by Amazon and Meta, move to build big donation To fund Trump's inauguration in January — signaling corporate America's efforts to favor the incoming president.
Trump said Monday that Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos would visit him this week, and said he recently had dinner with Apple's Tim Cook. “In the first term, everyone was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend,” Trump said.
The US president-elect has vowed to boost investment in the US with a mix of lower taxes and regulation - and even promised to speed up regulatory approvals for companies. $1 billion or more plow into the US economy. Howard Lutnick, her nominee for Commerce Secretary, also attended the event with son on Monday.
Investors hope Trump's plans will boost the world's largest economy, a condition that has prompted Strong flows in US stocks After the November election and the shares sent are zooming.
But analysts say his threats to impose steep tariffs on imports from around the world, his possible crackdown on immigration and his rollback of other manufacturing incentives implemented during Joe Biden's administration have undermined his pro-growth efforts. There is a danger of
Bate similarly vowed to inject $50 billion into the US economy and create 50,000 jobs after Trump's 2016 victory. A person familiar with the plans said the size of the latest investment could change.
That year the investor raised $100 billion through the SoftBank Vision Fund, backed by Saudi Arabia. That cash supported several US tech companies, including Uber and WeWork, but it's unclear how many jobs it created over the four-year period.
This time the son is likely to use his own Chip Design Co. Armwhich is the crown jewel of SoftBank's portfolio of assets, as a vehicle to create jobs and invest more broadly in AI.