SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son (pictured, right) pledged his company would invest $100 billion in the US over the next four years during a press event with incoming President Donald Trump (pictured, left).

Appearing in his first press conference since he was elected president on 6 November, Trump stated the investment would create 100,000 jobs focused on AI and related infrastructure.

The investment will be spread out across Trump’s four-year term in areas such as data centres, semiconductors and energy.

Son made a similar pledge of $50 billion in December 2016 that promised the creation of 50,000 jobs ahead of Trump’s first term.

Softbank had JPY3.8 trillion ($25 billion) in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet at the end of September, according to Bloomberg. It has benefitted from last year’s initial public offering of Arm Holdings, which it has a 90 per cent stake in.

Son is among a growing number of Big Tech executives that are showing their support for Trump.

Tik Tok update
During the same press conference, Trump also indicated he may reverse course on the looming ban of Tik Tok on 19 January, the day before he is sworn in as president.

CNN reported Trump claimed he has a “warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” and credited its followers with helping him win the election. He stated his administration is “taking a look at it”.

In a note to investors, LightShed analyst Richard Greenfield noted his company continues to believe current President Joe Biden will extend the TikTok deadline by 90 days to make the forced divestiture of the company by ByteDance “a Trump problem”.