Overview
- Masayoshi Son’s original $1 trillion Phoenix-area ‘Crystal Land’ concept has been reworked into multiple industrial parks sited on federal land, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- The proposed facilities would manufacture data-center hardware such as fiber-optic cables and could later produce AI chips, with the factories owned by the federal government as reported by WSJ.
- TSMC declined to join the project, prompting Son to pursue other Japanese firms including Toshiba, Murata Manufacturing, and Fujikara for potential roles.
- U.S. approval remains unresolved and the build-out would likely surpass Japan’s $550 billion investment commitment, with significant legal hurdles to using federal land.
- SoftBank’s push aligns with its recent U.S.-focused bets, including a pledged $100 billion for digital infrastructure, a joint venture with OpenAI and Oracle that may reach $500 billion, and a $2 billion investment in Intel.