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There have been some significant shifts in the tech industry of late, beginning with President-elect Donald Trump’s meeting with Japanese mogul Masayoshi Son to bring back American jobs to the U.S., who then promised to invest $50 billion in the country that would amount to over 50,000 employments. Now, Apple is jumping on the bandwagon with a $1 billion investment in SoftBank, which Son owns. According to the tech company, the money is meant to speed up tech development.
The money that Apple is giving will go to the Vision Fund project by the Japanese financial institution, TechCrunch reports. Announced in October last year, the project counts several prominent companies all over the globe as partners, with Saudi Arabia being one of the biggest contributors.
The goal of the fund is to invest in promising tech ventures in order to expedite the growth of the industry the world over. When asked about the reports, Apple sent TechCrunch a response confirming the investment.
“Apple is planning to invest $1 billion in SoftBank’s Vision Fund,” the company’s statement said. “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.”
The Fund itself will be based in London, Bloomberg reports, and SoftBank is hoping to launch the initiative this year. It will then start searching for startups with huge potential and provide them with the capital they need in order to get off the ground.
In the case of Apple, it would seem that this is a way for the company to finally start moving away from its dependence on the frankly waning prospects of the iPhone. The tech giant has been seeing a steady slump in sales over the years and CEO Tim Cook has been facing a lot of questions with regards to the direction that the company will take.
With the $1 billion investment it is making on the Vision Fund, Apple is clearly trying to position itself to take advantage of whatever tech innovations the project may yield. No doubt other companies will follow suit in the future.
