SoftBank And White House Plan AI Industrial Parks

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump hopes to build factories around the country to power the manufacturing of AI components. Eliot Brown reports that SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son is closing in on a deal that would help make that happen. Plus, Marc Vartabedian reports on why venture capitalists aren’t taking AI startups at their word when it comes to revenue. Patrick Coffee hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free Technology newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:28.6	real estate professionals welcome to tech news briefing it's Friday December 5th, 2025. I'm Patrick Coffey for the Wall Street Journal.
0:41.6	There's no shortage of new AI startups, and they're looking for funding. But in this era,
0:47.5	venture capitalists say figuring out how valuable these upstarts are isn't a straightforward
0:52.0	proposition. Then, imagine this, massive industrial parks
0:56.7	rising around this country to house the factories that will fuel our AI revolution. You're
1:02.4	skeptical. I get it. But SoftBank CEO Masayoshi-san is all in to the tune of $1 trillion or more.
1:13.6	But first, V capitalists are no strangers to fuzzy math and financial risk.
1:19.1	But the biggest challenge they face in sizing up the many AI businesses now scouring Silicon
1:23.8	Valley for funding may lie in figuring out whether their revenue claims are
1:27.7	anywhere close to accurate.
1:29.6	Journal reporter Mark Bard-Abedian talks about the new models that founders have adopted
1:33.6	to tell investors how much they're bringing in.
1:36.3	So, Mark, at the core of this story, is really pricing strategies.
1:40.3	What are the benchmarks that they're using today in the AI boom?
1:44.0	In the AI-era startups have really shifted to a new model that they're using today in the AI boom?
	...

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