Other potential investors in SoftBank fund include chipmaker Qualcomm and Chinese manufacturer Foxconn.
Apple confirmed plans to invest $1 billion in a tech fund being set up by Japanese telecommunications group SoftBank, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple,” the paper quoted Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet as saying.
SoftBank also said Foxconn, Qualcomm and Oracle founder Larry Ellison’s family office could invest in the fund.
In October 2016, SoftBank Group created its Vision Fund, with the main focus of making global investments in the technology sector. The Japanese group said the fund will be managed in the United Kingdom by a subsidiary and will deploy capital from SBG and investment partners. The telecom group said it expects to invest at least $25 billion over the next five years.
The Japanese firm also revealed it had finalized a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under which the latter will consider investing in the SoftBank Vision Fund and becoming the lead investment partner, with a potential investment of up to $45 billion over the next five years.
The Japanese firm also said it was in talks with other global investors to participate in the initiative, with the overall potential size of the fund set to go up to $100 billion.
Idea Cellular considering unlimited free 4G data offer in India
In other APAC news, Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular is reportedly considering launching an unlimited free “4G” data offer to compete against disruptive new market entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm, Asian press reported.
Idea is considering offering unlimited data in certain plans for up to one-and-a-half years, according to the reports. Idea is also considering free incoming calls for international roaming and new loyalty plans for existing customers.
Last month, Reliance Jio decided to extend its free mobile service promotion until the end of March 2017. The operator’s offer includes free voice, data and Jio apps to both new and existing customers. After that date, Reliance Jio said it plans to charge only for data, with free voice and text messaging.