Apple to invest $1 billion in SoftBank Vision Fund

Apple has announced plans to invest $1 billion in a new SoftBank technology fund, the Wall Street Journal reports. The SoftBank Vision Fund, announced last October, is hoping to raise $100 billion to finance development of new technologies. An Apple spokesperson said “We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple,” noting that Apple has already been working with SoftBank for many years. SoftBank itself is investing $25 billion into the fund, while Saudi Arabia’s government is investing $45 billion. Other potential investors include the sovereign-wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, the Qatar Investment Authority and Qualcomm.