{"id":31455,"date":"2025-06-21T04:02:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=31455"},"modified":"2025-06-21T04:02:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T04:02:58","slug":"softbank-chief-pitches-1tn-ai-and-robotics-complex-in-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=31455","title":{"rendered":"SoftBank chief pitches $1tn AI and robotics complex in Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> \n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Stay informed with free updates<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__content-sign-up-topic-description o3-type-body-base\"><span>Simply sign up to the <!-- -->Artificial intelligence<!-- --> myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to your inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"article__content-sign-up-iframe close\" scrolling=\"no\" id=\"signUpIframe\" data-prev-url=\"\/register\/in-article-sign-up?ft-content-uuid=0dc4bbda-390b-4553-860b-0efa7b4ec0d1&amp;concept-id=d2e5aa89-e168-416d-b41b-af8e847fb3cd\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<p>SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is pushing the idea of a vast $1tn artificial intelligence and robotics complex in the US state of Arizona that could include the establishment of a free-trade zone and the involvement of the world\u2019s biggest chipmaker, TSMC.<\/p>\n<p>The plan, which Son has raised with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, is aimed at bringing high-tech manufacturing into the country at scale, said three people familiar with the concept, which was first reported by Bloomberg.<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank officials have also discussed it with local and federal politicians in an effort to secure tax breaks, according to the same people.<\/p>\n<p>The final size of the project, if approved, may vary significantly, depending on the level of interest from tech groups, the people warned.<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank and TSMC declined to comment. Lutnick did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The Arizona concept is the latest large-scale, creative plan to be promoted by the SoftBank chief. He has already pledged $500bn to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/48eb53a1-67ca-4509-8c62-401f0cf8b099\" data-trackable=\"link\">Stargate project<\/a> to scale up US data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure with OpenAI, Oracle and Abu Dhabi\u2019s MGX.<\/p>\n<p>Stargate funding is coming from project finance, a model that could be repeated if his latest venture comes to fruition.<\/p>\n<p>Son has staked his reputation on AI and built a web of partnerships and capital stakes with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/a9cd130f-f6bf-4750-98cc-19d87394e657\" data-trackable=\"link\">companies including Nvidia and OpenAI<\/a>, as well as a host of smaller companies through the group\u2019s Vision Fund investment vehicles. He hopes to leverage many of these in the new project.<\/p>\n<aside aria-labelledby=\"aside-label\" class=\"n-content-recommended--single-story n-content-recommended--inset\" data-component=\"recommended\">\n<p class=\"n-content-recommended__title o3-type-body-highlight\">Recommended<\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser o-teaser--article o-teaser--small o-teaser--stacked o-teaser--has-image o-teaser--opinion js-teaser\" data-id=\"0e24b85e-99ac-4c73-ac1d-f3e72d1a3dce\">\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-container js-teaser-image-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/0e24b85e-99ac-4c73-ac1d-f3e72d1a3dce\" data-trackable=\"image-link\" data-trackable-context-story-link=\"image-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"o-teaser__image-placeholder\" style=\"aspect-ratio:2289\/1288\"><\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The SoftBank chief has also remained close to President Donald Trump. He was one of the first foreign visitors to Mar-a-Lago, the president\u2019s Florida home, following his re-election and is spending large amounts of time in the US.<\/p>\n<p>A person familiar with the matter said TSMC had yet to be formally approached about the plan.<\/p>\n<p>The Taiwanese chipmaker has a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/bec74539-098a-48dd-b0e6-7c33f9d5835e\" data-trackable=\"link\">massive US investment plan<\/a> in place and is beginning mass production of advanced chips in Arizona this year.<\/p>\n<p>Another person said Son had floated the idea of free-trade zones in various US states to encourage investment from countries such as Taiwan, suggesting the already ambitious Arizona plan could be replicated if successful.<\/p>\n<p>Son has also suggested various iterations of a joint US-Japan investment vehicle to make large-scale plays in tech and infrastructure across the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/0dc4bbda-390b-4553-860b-0efa7b4ec0d1\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest &#8212; delivered directly to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":31456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}