US President-elect Donald Trump has announced plans for Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group to invest $100 billion in projects in the United States over the coming four years, focusing on artificial intelligence infrastructure.
SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, a well-known risk-taker and early believer in technology, has pledged significant investments in the US since Trump’s 2016 victory. Initially, he committed to investing $50 billion, but now plans to invest $100 billion over four years.
Son founded SoftBank in the 1980s, expanding it from telecoms carrier to encompass renewable energy and technology ventures. The company has invested in numerous Silicon Valley startups, including Arm, Alibaba, and other tech companies.
SoftBank is betting heavily on AI, believing that artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence within a decade. The company’s 90% stake in Arm positions it well for expansion of AI applications, but the nature of its $100 billion investment remains unclear.
The impact of AI on jobs remains uncertain, with most data processing centers based on energy-guzzling technology likely to employ relatively few people once built. SoftBank itself employs around 65,000 employees worldwide.
Trump has promised that the investments will create 100,000 jobs, more than double the initial promise made by Son in 2016. However, it is unclear whether this number will be achieved. Officials in Tokyo praise Son’s initiative as a goodwill gesture at a time of concerns over potential tariff hikes on imports from allies like Japan and China.
The $100 billion investment is part of SoftBank’s Vision Fund investments, which include companies such as T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Microsoft, Nvidia, Uber, Nuro, Wag, Coupang, Grab, and Slack.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/japan-softbank-masayoshi-trump-ai-d45efad6e48f80579456fe48dba95562