5 Tech Companies Eyeing U.S. Job Creation Investments During The Trump Administration

Bringing Home The Jobs

On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump touted his business acumen as a top reason he was qualified to sit in the oval office, promising voters that his knowledge of big business would help him improve the country's economy and create more jobs for Americans.

Now, nearly one month into the new administration, Trump has met with executives at top corporations, built a business leader advisory panel and continued to publicly voice his wish that industry giants ramp up investment in creating jobs for U.S. workers.

Executives at a number of top technology companies, including IBM, AT&T and Intel, have announced corporate initiatives or hinted at investments aimed at increasing employment in the U.S. – even if those plans were in the works before Trump was elected.

To help keep track of which tech companies have joined the job creation conversation, here are five executives from five tech corporations that have announced their intentions to invest in U.S. job creation during Trump's administration.

IBM

In December, on the same day corporate executives met with then President-elect Trump, IBM CEO and business leader advisory panelist Ginni Rometty published an op-ed in USA Today pledging to hire about 25,000 people in the U.S. and invest $1 billion in training and development over the next four years.

The article did not specify if the new hires represented a net increase in Big Blue's workforce, or if they will be part of the company's ongoing restructuring plans and reorientation to focus on delivering its products through the cloud and expanding into new technology areas like cognitive computing.

Rometty did say that 6,000 of the new hires are planned for 2017.

In the article, Rometty stressed the importance of vocational training for American workers and called for an update to the Perkins Career Technical Education Act, which assists vocational and technical initiatives with federal funding.

AT&T

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson discussed his January meeting with Trump during the company’s Q4 2016 earnings call last month.

Although many on the call hoped to hear more information about AT&T's planned $85.4 million merger with Time Warner – which Trump promised on the campaign trail to block - Stephenson said the two discussed tax cuts and telecommunications regulation reform.

During his comments on the call, Stephenson said the discussion with Trump left him feeling optimistic that tax cuts would be enacted, adding that AT&T would use the savings for investments that would lead to job creation.

’As investment ticks up, economic activity ticks up, hiring ticks up,’ he said.

Intel

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich stood in the oval office last week and announced that his company will invest $7 billion to finish work on an Arizona factory that Intel began building several years ago.

In a company email first reported by CNBC, Krzanich said the announcement was made at the White House to show support of the new administration’s policies, particularly those regarding tax cuts that allow companies like Intel to build competitive manufacturing centers in the U.S.

When completed, according to Kraznich's email, the factory will directly employ about 3,000 people and support about 10,000 jobs.

SoftBank, Sprint, OneWeb,

In early December, following a meeting with SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, Trump announced SoftBank’s plans to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 jobs over the next four years.

Later in December Trump announced that Sprint and OneWeb, two companies that SoftBank holds stakes in, would altogether bring 8,000 jobs into America.

According to an article published by Reuters, however, the 8,000 jobs were part of Son’s initial pledge and are included in the 50,000 jobs he promised during his meeting with the President.

Sprint committed to adding 5,000 new U.S. employees to its organization by the end of 2017, either by creating new jobs or bringing back employment positions from overseas.

SoftBank and OneWeb announced a $1.2 billion round of funding in December. With that money, OneWeb plans to build a low-cost satellite plant in Florida, creating almost 3,000 jobs. SoftBank, however, will use $1 billion of the money as the first tranche of the $50 billion that Son promised.

Amazon

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos pledged to continue Amazon’s hiring spree, promising to create more than 100,000 new American jobs over the next 18 months.

Many of the new positions will be at warehouses already under construction in Texas, California, Florida and New Jersey, according to a statement from the company. Other positions will be in tech areas including cloud technology, machine learning and advanced logistics.

Amazon's announcement will continue the company’s explosive hiring, which has already expanded the company's employee roster from 30,000 in 2011 to more than 180,000 at the end of 2016.