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Apple will invest $1 billion into the world's largest technology venture fund
(Apple CEO Tim CookGetty Images/Andrew Burton)
Apple will invest $1 billion into the SoftBank Vision Fund, a spokesperson told Business Insider.
The fund will be the world's largest technology venture fund if it hits its $100 billion goal.
"Apple is planning to invest $1 billion in SoftBank's Vision Fund. We've worked closely with SoftBank for many years and we believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple," Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock told Business Insider.
Apple is joining investors such as Saudi Arabia's government fund, which is expected to plow $45 billion into the $100 billion fund. SoftBank has said it will contribute $25 billion. Softbank confirmed that Apple intends to invest in the fund, and other investors include Foxconn, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and Qualcomm.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Apple's announcement.
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, which owns wireless carrier Sprint among other holdings, is expected to use the fund to invest in technologies like artificial intelligence.
In December, president-elect Donald Trump claimed credit for a promise by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to invest $50 billion in US companies, bringing 50,000 jobs to the country. Son later revealed that the investment would come from the Vision Fund.
Apple is unusual among tech giants in that it doesn't run its own venture capital wing. It has invested in companies in the past, though, and Apple has done business with Softbank for years.
Most recently, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, the Uber of China. Before that, Apple mostly invested in complementary companies like ARM, which designs the chips used in the iPhone, although it divested its stake years before ARM was sold to Softbank for over $30 billion in 2016.
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