[President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son announced at Mar-a-Lago that the company is expected to invest $100 billion in US projects over the next four years, with a goal of creating 100,000 new jobs, according to two people familiar with the announcement.
This investment is similar to one made in 2016, when Son pledged $50 billion and 50,000 jobs. SoftBank’s venture capital arm, the Vision Fund, ended up investing about $75 billion, but the number of jobs created is harder to tally due to the COVID-19 impact on employment.
The current pledge will focus on artificial intelligence and AI infrastructure, including energy, data centers, and chips.
New presidents and presidents-elect often make joint announcements with companies about massive US investments to promote a supposed rebirth of American industry, but their track record for success is mixed.
SoftBank never disclosed the number of jobs created in its 2016 announcement and how many were a result of new investment. For example, it pledged $1 billion to Florida startup OneWeb, but later clarified it had been in talks with the startup for “a long time.”
Trump also famously announced a $10 billion electronics factory in Wisconsin in 2017 with Foxconn, expected to create 13,000 jobs, but the company eventually abandoned most of its plans and revised the deal to invest $672 million, creating fewer than 1,500 jobs. Foxconn still has a manufacturing site with over 1,000 employees, but the facility announced has become a Microsoft data hub.
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