Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Oracle founder Larry Ellison to invest in SoftBank Vision Fund

Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Oracle founder Larry Ellison's family office are to invest in SoftBank's $100bn (£81.07bn) Vision Fund, Benjamin Spicehandler, a public relations representative for the Japanese telecommunications giant said.

Among the potential investors, Apple is the only one to have confirmed its investment saying it plans to invest $1bn in the fund that will be used to make investments in technology companies worldwide.

"We believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple," company spokesman Josh Rosenstock was cited as saying by Reuters.

While there has been no comment from Foxconn, Qualcomm and Ellison's family office, Spicehandler confirmed their intention to invest in the fund.

The fund dates back to October 2016. SoftBank had then announced that it planned to set up such a fund in association with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF).

SoftBank had said it would invest at least $25bn over the next five years, while PIF would be investing up to $45bn. A few large global investors were also expected to participate in the fund.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said in December 2016 that the company would invest $50bn in the US, adding that this would come from the Vision Fund that it was in the process of setting up.

Last month, SoftBank invested $1bn in US startup OneWeb, which aims to use satellites to bring internet access to rural areas. SoftBank had stated that this was the kind of investments the fund was aiming to make.

Unnamed sources cited by the Financial Times confirmed that the fund, which will be headed by SoftBank's head of strategic finance Rajeev Misra, will invest in tech companies that focus on artificial intelligence, robotics and "internet of things".

While the fund could have hit its $100bn benchmark, sources said SoftBank will keep the fund open for additional investments until the end of January.