Apple investing $1 billion in SoftBank Vision Fund

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Apple is investing in SoftBank Group’s new technology fund, reports The Wall Street Journal. The company confirmed its plans with the outlet to invest $1 billion in the SoftBank Vision Fund to help finance new technologies that it could use in the future.

“We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told The Journal. She also noted that Apple has been working with SoftBank for several years.

The SoftBank Vision Fund hopes to raise over $100 billion and is set to formally launch in the coming weeks. Saudi Arabia’s government is investing $45 billion, and both Qualcomm and the Qatar Investment Authority are discussing similar investments.

SoftBank has nabbed a number of tech headlines in recent years, acquiring chip-maker ARM and a controlling stake in US carrier Sprint. This is also par for the course for Apple of late, who just invested $1B in Chinese ride-sharing co. Didi Chuxing.

Source: The Wall Street Journal