Apple Confirms $1 Billion Investment In SoftBank's Tech Fund

Apple will invest $1 billion in a fund set up by Japanese telecom company SoftBank to finance new technology that could be used in the future, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

"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 .

The SoftBank Vision Fund, which the Japanese company is hoping to launch next year, could be one of the largest global tech investment funds, with the potential size of the Fund going up to $100 billion. SoftBank itself expects to invest at least $25 billion. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund could become the leading funding partner, with its potential $45 billion investment over five years.

The money will be used to finance new technology, such as artificial intelligence, deep learning, robotics, and connected devices.

SoftBank, OneWeb and Trump

Apple’s investment plans comes after SoftBank announced on Dec. 20 that it had agreed to invest $1 billion in the U.S. tech company OneWeb Ltd., which plans to construct and launch a constellation of hundreds of internet-beaming satellites in low-Earth orbit over the next decade.

SoftBank’s plans with OneWeb came just days after the Japanese company’s CEO met with president-elect Donald Trump and vowed to create 50,000 jobs and invest $50 billion in U.S. startups. Trump, meanwhile, went on Twitter and took credit for the deal, saying it would have never happened had he not won the Nov. 8 election.