On Monday, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son and President-elect Donald Trump jointly announced a bold commitment: The Japanese tech conglomerate aims to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. It was a glitzy pledge from a global tech leader, teaming up with the incoming president with a promise to create at least 100,000 new American jobs in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
There’s just one hitch: SoftBank doesn’t actually have $100 billion at the moment. As of market close on Monday, its entire market cap was $97 billion, and it has $29 billion in cash on hand. It’s unclear how the company would finance its pledge and Son didn’t bother to detail how during its announcement.
SoftBank’s announcement comes as several tech executives have tried to curry favor with Trump as he returns to power. In the last few days, Facebook parent Meta, Amazon and OpenAI have reportedly promised to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inauguration fund. With key supporters like Tesla CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Silicon Valley has struck a different tone from when Trump first took office four years ago.
In trying to hit the $100 billion mark, the company could potentially count already-announced commitments to its tally. For example, Softbank reportedly invested another $1.5 billion in OpenAI last month through an employee tender offer. In May, the Japanese company said it would commit $9 billion a year to AI investments, though it didn’t specify where it would make its bets.
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