Tech experts are questioning President-elect Donald Trump and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s announcement that the Japanese investment holding company would invest $100 billion in the United States, creating a “minimum” of 100,000 jobs.
Trump championed the “historic investment” as a “monumental demonstration of confidence in America’s future.” The incoming president said the SoftBank commitment would “help ensure that artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and other industries of tomorrow are built, created and grown right here in the USA.”
Despite Monday’s press conference announcement at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, signaling an early show of confidence among global investors to build advanced technologies in the U.S. – and by proxy stimulate national economic growth – tech experts tell theGrio they are less confident the proposed investment would do what Trump claims.
“While there may be legitimate announcements from companies and President-elect Trump in the future, these announcements from SoftBank should be taken with a grain of salt given their past history with these announcements and President Trump,” said Adam Conner, vice president of technology policy at the Center for American Progress.
Conner noted that, in 2016, at the start of Trump’s first term as president, SoftBank made a similar pledge of $50 billion in the U.S. that would create 50,000 jobs. That, he said, resulted in a “failed Foxconn plant in Wisconsin.” According to a report from The Verge, the massive plant was supposed to build LCD products in exchange for billions of dollars in state subsidies. However, what Foxxcon ultimately built was far smaller in scope and size despite the offer of $4.5 billion in subsidies from the state of Wisconsin.
Conner also highlighted the bankruptcy of WeWork, which was financially backed by SoftBank Group. He told theGrio, “We should expect more of these kinds of announcements as CEOs aim to curry favor with President-elect Trump, who has been clear that he plans to reward businesses and investors that support him.” Conner added, “Whether they deliver actual investments or more failed manufacturing plants remains to be seen.”
A. Prince Albert III, founder and president of Goldwater Ventures, which advises institutions engaging Black and brown communities, told theGrio that it’s unlikely any of SoftBank’s investments will result in as many jobs as Trump and SoftBank’s CEO proclaim – especially among communities of color.
“I don’t see his direct investment creating jobs for … Black and Brown Americans,” said Albert, who noted that given Son’s investment history, his latest pledge will likely go toward “capital investment infrastructure” for AI and other technologies. He explained, “That infrastructure, once it’s built, it’s kind of automated and run by other companies.”
“While there might be some marginal increase in inclusion of Black and Brown Americans, it’s not going to be direct,” Albert maintained. “It’s not going to be measurable,” he added. “Absent a concerted effort to center these communities, the incidental increase in Black and Latinx Americans getting into AI would not be because of this $100 billion.”
