The CEO of Japan’s SoftBank announced plans to invest $100bn in AI projects that he claims will create 100,000 jobs in the US. Masayoshi Son, Softbank’s CEO, made the announcement alongside President-elect Donald Trump, who claimed it as his first economic victory.
The announcement took place in Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s famous resort in Florida that has often functioned as his home base. It doubles the figures of a pledge Son made in 2016, after Trump was first elected, to invest $50bn and create 50,000 jobs.
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“My confidence level to the economy of the United States has tremendously increased with his victory,” Son said. “President Trump is a double down president. I am going to have to double down.” In that case, Trump joked, he could double his investment to $200bn.
The investment would be directed at AI-linked projects, such as the building of data centres and chip manufacturing plants, a person familiar with the announcement told the FT. While it is unclear how Son will fund the investment, he could do so through the chip design company ARM, which is owned by the SoftBank Vision Fund. The fund receives support from Saudi Arabia.
Son has a history of making lofty announcements, casting some doubt on his ability to deliver on the promise of completing the investment during Trump’s second term. Similar announcements that Trump made at the beginning of his first term have a history of falling short. For example, out of the 13,000 jobs he promised a $10bn Foxconn investment in Wisconsin would create, only about 1,000 materialised.
The announcement reinforces Trump’s narrative that, facing the threat and imposition of tariffs, foreign investment into the country would increase. However, economists are still deeply doubtful about the potential of this mechanism to offset a likely increase in inflation if high import tariffs are imposed.
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