Trump spoke of a “demonstration of confidence in America’s future” at a press conference with Son at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago in Florida. The investments would help “artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and other industries of tomorrow be built, created and advanced here in the United States.” Son said Trump’s election victory had “significantly increased” his confidence in the US economy.
The Softbank Group returned to profitability in the second quarter of this year, after net losses in the previous fiscal year and the first quarter of this year. Among other things, he manages venture capital funds for investments in startups.
Trump announced during the election campaign that he wanted to stimulate the US economy by reducing regulations and investing in the environmentally harmful oil and gas sector. Last week, the right-wing populist said any company that invests more than $1 billion in the US would benefit from fast-track approvals.
Softbank was founded in 1981 as a software provider. The founder Son has been investing aggressively in new technologies and startups for years. These included successes such as the Chinese internet giant Alibaba and the search engine Yahoo, but also bankruptcies such as the coworking space provider WeWork.
The 67-year-old billionaire assumes that an “artificial superintelligence” will establish itself in the next few years, which will create completely new knowledge and new investment opportunities.
