Japanese firm SoftBank investing $50B in U.S. and bringing 50K jobs, Trump says

NEW YORK, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Japanese wireless and Internet giant SoftBank will invest $50 billion and create 50,000 jobs in the United States as part of a project to stimulate global technology innovation, President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday.

Trump and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced the partnership at Trump Tower in New York City on Tuesday. The company, they said, will invest the money in startups and other U.S. companies.

The venture underscores Trump's potential economic value as U.S. commander in-chief and is an agreement that would not have happened if Hillary Clinton was moving into the White House -- at least, according to Trump.

"Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!" he tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

However, some experts believe much of the cash earmarked by the venture was most likely headed for the United States anyway, since it's a leader in the global technology industry.

"I think it's making hay out of something that was there already," analyst Roger Entner told the Washington Post. "In all likelihood, this comes out of the $100 billion fund. Considering the extremely large part that the U.S. has in the high-tech economy, [Son] would have probably invested something in the neighborhood anyway."

It's unclear exactly where the money will go or how much of it is actually from SoftBank itself. Son noted the $50 billion will come from a $100 billion joint tech fund established in October by his company and the Saudi Arabian government.

When the fund was set up, SoftBank committed to giving $25 billion over five years. The Saudi government agreed to contribute $45 billion and outside investors pledged another $30 billion.

The move also improves SoftBank's standing with the U.S. government. The Tokyo-based tech and telecom giant, which owns U.S. carrier Sprint, unsuccessfully sought support from President Barack Obama's administration to consolidate the mobile phone market.