Bloomberg: SoftBank founder wants to build an American Shenzhen in Arizona for $1 trillion
The founder of Japan's SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, wants to create a large industrial park in the United States for the production of robots and artificial intelligence for $1 trillion, Bloomberg reports, citing informed sources.
The complex, codenamed Project Crystal Land, is set to appear in Arizona and become the largest project in Son's career.
His idea is to create an American equivalent of China's Shenzhen, which will return high-tech manufacturing to the United States.
SoftBank wants to involve Taiwanese giant TSMC, a chip manufacturer for NVIDIA, in the project, but it is currently unknown whether the company is interested in this.
Negotiations are currently underway with the US authorities regarding tax breaks for investors in the industrial park. The project has been discussed with Samsung, as well as other technology companies.
Son's idea is estimated to cost up to $1 trillion to implement, but the project depends on the support of major technology players, investors and, likely, the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Masayoshi Son is keen to make his mark as one of the leaders of the artificial intelligence era, saying he is willing to "give it all" to accelerate the development of AI.
- SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, which could make it the largest backer of an artificial intelligence startup.
