Apple Pledges $1 Billion In Softbank's Tech Fund; Good News For Sprint?

Apple Inc. AAPL has pledged a $1 billion investment in Softbank Group Corp's SFTBF $100 billion new technology fund, “dedicated to investments in the technology sector globally." The tech giant is hoping new technologies that arise from the fund will come to benefit the company in the future.

"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," said Josh Rosenstock, a spokesman for Apple.

Some analysts have predicted this is a move by Apple, which has notoriously shipped jobs overseas to the Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn factories, to get on good terms with President-elect Donald Trump. Foxconn has said it was in preliminary discussions regarding a potential American expansion.

Softbank announced the fund in late 2016, after committing $25 billion, alongside Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund investing $45 billion in the fund.

The Japanese bank’s fund has been gaining recognition in the US after Softbank’s billionaire founder Masayoshi Son met with Trump, and pledged that half of the fund ($50 billion) will be invested in the U.S. with the goal of creating 50,000 new jobs.

Investors in Softbank-owned Sprint Corp S have been optimistic that Son’s relationship with the new president will bode well for a potential merger with T-Mobile US IncTMUS in the future, a deal that was blocked by the Obama administration.

Last week, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure announced the company would create or bring back 5,000 jobs to the US in a call with the future president.

“We are excited to work with President-Elect Trump and his Administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the U.S.,” said Claure. “We believe it is critical for business and government to partner together to create more job opportunities in the U.S. and ensure prosperity for all Americans.”

Sprint shares closed up nearly 3 percent on Wednesday.