CNN
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President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son spoke Monday morning at Mar-a-Lago about the company’s goal of creating 100,000 new jobs, two people familiar with the matter said. The company announced plans to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the course of the year. Familiar with announcements.
The investment, first reported by CNBC, is similar to one made in December 2016 when Son pledged to invest $50 billion and create 50,000 jobs. SoftBank ultimately invested about $75 billion through its venture capital arm, Vision Fund, according to CNN. The total number of jobs created is even more difficult to tally considering the impact of the coronavirus on domestic employment.
This year’s pledges are particularly focused on artificial intelligence and AI infrastructure, including energy, data centers and chips, according to people familiar with the investments.
New presidents and president-elects have frequently made joint announcements with companies about large-scale U.S. investments to encourage the revitalization of U.S. industry. But their track record of success is decidedly mixed.
SoftBank did not say how many of the jobs touted in its 2016 announcement were created and how many were the result of new investments. For example, as part of the proposed plan, the company said it would pump $1 billion into Florida startup OneWeb. But SoftBank later clarified that it had been in talks with the startup for a “long time,” SoftBank spokesman Matthew Nicholson said at the time.
Most famously, in 2017, President Trump announced that he and Foxconn would build a massive $10 billion electronics factory in Wisconsin, creating 13,000 jobs. But the company ultimately abandoned most of its planned facilities and high-tech products. In 2021, the company announced it would invest just $672 million in a revised agreement that would create fewer than 1,500 jobs.
But Foxconn has announced it has invested $1 billion in the state, and its main manufacturing site for data servers, with more than 1,000 employees, remains. But the facility announced by President Trump has become a data hub for Microsoft aimed at training employees and manufacturers on how to best use artificial intelligence.
This story has been updated with additional information.
