SoftBank Promises $100-B U.S. Investment

President-elect Donald Trump announced that SoftBank Group Corp. plans to invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years during an event alongside CEO Masayoshi Son, Min Jeong Lee and Akayla Gardner reported for Bloomberg News.

Questions remain about where SoftBank will find the capital for such a massive pledge. I Photo: Syced Wikimedia Commons

“He’s doing this because he feels very optimistic about our country since the election,” Trump said, calling the pledge a “demonstration of confidence in America’s future.”

Son, who met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, told reporters: “I’m very, very excited. I would really like to celebrate the great victory of President Trump, and my confidence in the U.S. economy has tremendously increased with his victory.”

The plan includes creating 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and related infrastructure, including investments in data centers, semiconductors, and energy, according to a source familiar with the initiative.

However, questions remain about where SoftBank will find the capital for such a massive pledge. Son has a history of ambitious promises; in December 2016, he pledged to create 50,000 jobs as part of a $50 billion investment in the U.S., but little came of it.

During Trump’s previous term, Son raised $100 billion for the Vision Fund from external investors and invested heavily in startups such as WeWork, Uber, and DoorDash. SoftBank currently lacks the cash to deliver on this new promise.

The company held 3.8 trillion yen ($25 billion) in cash and equivalents as of September, but its finances have improved with the IPO of chip design firm Arm Holdings Plc. SoftBank still owns about 90% of Arm, which now has a market capitalization of approximately $160 billion.