SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is finalising plans with the White House and the U.S. Commerce Department for a sweeping industrial project that could channel hundreds of billions of dollars into building Trump-branded technology manufacturing parks across the United States, according to people familiar with the talks.
The Wall Street Journal (gated) has the info.
The proposal, still evolving, envisions factory clusters built largely on federal land, funded by money pledged by the Japanese government under a recent trade agreement. The facilities would manufacture components critical to AI infrastructure, including fibre-optic cable, data-centre equipment, and eventually AI chips. Funding flows could begin as early as 2026.
President Trump has reportedly endorsed the plan in principle. Under the working model, Japanese tech firms would provide much of the engineering and manufacturing know-how, while ownership of the completed facilities would ultimately rest with the U.S. federal government.
