Trump says SoftBank to invest $50B in US, hopes to create 50,000 jobs

By Mike Wuerthele

Following a Tuesday meeting with SoftBank's chief executive, President-Elect Donald Trump tweeted that the Japanese company has agreed to invest $50 billion in U.S. business, and create 50,000 new jobs as a result.

Image Credit: Andrew Harnik -- AP

SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son met with Trump at the latter's transition team offices, located in Trump Tower in New York City. Son is in the process of generating a $100 billion international investment fund for this investment, and others -- while the fund is not yet completely built out, it has already accumulated $70 billion, and is "oversubscribed" with potential investors, according to the executive.

Trump claims that the investment would not have been made had he not won the election.

Son could once again attempt a merger between Sprint (80 percent owned by SoftBank) and T-Mobile with the funds, once shot down by the Obama administration. The merger of the third- and fourth-largest carriers in the U.S. would alter the landscape of the wireless market dramatically.

When SoftBank walked away from the effort, the bid for T-Mobile was estimated to be worth $32 billion.

Son is also responsible for the buyout of chip foundry and Apple supplier ARM Holdings for $32 billion in July.

Apple's decision to use an ARM application processor -- and not Intel chips -- in the first iPhone in 2007 proved to be landmark decision that would shape the future of not only Apple, but the entire mobile industry. Since then, custom ARM-based designs have also been used to power the iPad, Apple TV, and iPod touch.

Apple takes ARM's chip designs and developments and heavily customizes them to build its own unique A-series processors, with manufacturing duties handled in the past by Samsung and now predominantly by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.