Why SoftBank’s Robots-in-the-Desert Project Could Be a Mirage

Masayoshi Son is a man who keeps adding zeros to his grand ambitions. Apparently, the SoftBank Group founder isn’t content with his $500 billion Stargate plan to build artificial intelligence data centers and is now trying to rally partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., to build a $1 trillion industrial complex in Arizona that will produce AI-powered robots, according to Bloomberg.

There are a lot of reasons to question whether this megaproject, code-named Project Crystal Land, will come to fruition (a SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment on the Bloomberg report). But one factor that could hamstring such a grand U.S. manufacturing hub for robots is vividly illustrated in our Weekend section’s Big Read today on the global race to build humanoid robots: Much of the supply chain for humanoid robots is located in China—and that is emerging as a big advantage for Chinese robotics startups.