The US President-elect Trump, who will return to the White House in January next year, held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Monday. He announced that Japan's SoftBank Group will invest $100 billion (445.677 billion Ringgit) in the United States over the next four years, creating at least 100,000 jobs. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son also attended the press conference, emphasizing that Trump's victory greatly boosted his confidence in the US economy, and expressing that the investments will be related to AI.
Trump noted, "This historic investment plan fully showcases confidence in the future of America and will help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies, and other future industries are established, created, and developed in the US."
SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, along with Trump, confirmed SoftBank's commitment to the $100 billion investment plan and promised to create 100,000 jobs.
Trump Hopes to Boost It to $200 billion
After the 2016 US presidential election, Masayoshi Son promised Trump to invest $50 billion (222.838 billion Ringgit) in the US.
Masayoshi Son stated, "The amount of investment committed this time is double the previous amount, symbolizing my confidence in the US. Japanese people take pride in the strong US-Japan friendship. I am looking forward to realizing this investment."
Trump jokingly said at the press conference that he hopes Masayoshi Son will actually invest $200 billion (891.354 billion Ringgit) in American enterprises.
Masayoshi Son laughed and replied, "I will really try; he is an excellent negotiator."
Investing in AI-Related Projects
After attending the press conference with Trump, Masayoshi Son was interviewed by Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). When asked about the feasibility of SoftBank's commitment to the $100 billion investment plan in the US, he confidently stated, "SoftBank Group has hundreds of trillions of yen in assets and various ways to mobilize funds." He believes that more companies will make many proposals to Trump in the future, and SoftBank is taking the lead to explore various business opportunities and establish partners.
Masayoshi Son also pointed out that they will proceed with investments in various AI-related projects such as data centers, indicating that the world of generative AI is rapidly growing. Trump has a positive attitude towards this, but Son remains optimistic.