Japan's SoftBank Group said Friday it would partner with tech firms including Apple and Microsoft in a new $108-billion investment fund to accelerate the"AI revolution".
In a statement, SoftBank Group said Vision Fund 2 would"facilitate the continued acceleration of the AI revolution through investment in market-leading, tech-enabled growth companies". The announcement of Vision Fund 2 made no mention of Saudi Arabia among the investors, though reports ahead of the announcement suggested Riyadh was in negotiations to put money into the fund.The Japanese firm's strong ties with the kingdom came under scrutiny after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Reports suggest both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are considering investing in the new fund, though possibly with smaller stakes than last time. "I don't want to be number two... I have not been able to accept that ever since I was a child," said the flamboyant tycoon."It's an attractive growth sector as digitalisation has been under way globally and rapidly," Yosuke Nakamura, a researcher at NLI Research Institute, told AFP.
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