SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son is exploring the creation of a US$1 trillion artificial-intelligence and robotics manufacturing park in Arizona, according to Bloomberg. The scheme, code-named “Project Crystal Land,” would mark the 67-year-old billionaire’s largest bet to date and is intended to replicate the scale and integration of China’s Shenzhen industrial hub while repatriating high-tech production to the United States. Son has approached Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to play a central role in the venture and is also sounding out other technology groups, including Samsung Electronics, people familiar with the talks said. Whether TSMC will participate remains unclear; the chipmaker is already spending about US$165 billion on separate US fabrication plants. SoftBank executives have met federal and state officials—among them US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—to discuss possible tax incentives for companies that build factories or invest in the complex. The project’s feasibility hinges on political backing from the Trump administration and sufficient commitments from private-sector partners, the sources added. The Arizona proposal deepens SoftBank’s push into large-scale AI infrastructure. This year the Tokyo-based group agreed to acquire Ampere Computing for US$6.5 billion, pledged as much as US$40 billion to OpenAI, and is helping raise roughly US$500 billion for the “Stargate” network of US data centres. SoftBank has bolstered its cash position by raising US$4.8 billion through a partial sale of its T-Mobile US stake. Even so, Project Crystal Land would require unprecedented outside financing before construction could begin.