SoftBank CEO to meet Trump, announce $100 billion U.S. investment, sources say

By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland

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PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) -SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son plans to announce a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years during a Monday visit to President-elect Donald Trump, two sources familiar with the event said.

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Son will also promise in a joint announcement with Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club to create 100,000 jobs focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and related infrastructure, with the money to be deployed before the end of Trump’s term, the sources said, confirming a report from CNBC.

The funding could come from various sources controlled by SoftBank, including the Vision Fund, capital projects or chipmaker Arm Holdings, CNBC said.

A SoftBank Group representative could not be reached for comment when called outside of regular business hours in Tokyo.

Representatives for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond for comment. Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks at his Florida resort at 11 a.m. (1600 GMT).

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Son has been a strong proponent of the potential for AI and has been pushing to expand SoftBank’s exposure to the sector, taking a stake in OpenAI and acquiring chip startup Graphcore.

In October, he reiterated his belief in the coming of artificial super intelligence, saying it would require hundreds of billions of dollars of investment to realise.

Son said at the time he was saving up funds “so I can make the next big move,” but did not provide any details.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; additional reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru, Rocky Swift in Tokyo, and Susan Heavey. Editing by Sonia Cheema, Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)