On December 6 Patently Apple posted a report titled "Softbank to Invest $50 Billion in the U.S. to create 50,000 new Tech Jobs and Somehow Foxconn is Included in the Deal" Our report captured a photo of a page from the presentation Masayoshi Son gave to President-elect Trump as noted below. We reported that Foxconn was present on the proposal. The next day Foxconn confirmed it was in preliminary discussions to expand its operations in the United States. Today it's being reported that Apple has held talks regarding an investment into the $100 billion technology fund being raised by Japanese internet and telecommunications giant SoftBank Group Corp. The news comes days ahead of Apple's meeting with President-elect Trump this week at Trump Tower.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that "The SoftBank Vision Fund, which aims to launch next year, is targeting $100 billion and is seeded by SoftBank, one of Japan's largest mobile-phone providers and owner of Sprint Corp. It marks an ambitious effort by SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son to position his company as a leader in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, in which everyday objects such as thermostats, watches and cars are connected online.

By investing, Apple also would hope to gain insight on emerging technologies, the people familiar with the matter said.

Such a move also would reflect a shift in Apple's investment strategy, which until recently focused on small stakes in young technology companies. Earlier this year, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing Technology Co., China's homegrown ride-sharing competitor to Uber Technologies Inc. SoftBank is also an investor in Didi."

Apple and SoftBank have business ties stretching back nearly a decade. In 2008, the companies struck a deal to make SoftBank the exclusive iPhone seller in Japan. The partnership drove record sales, helping to make SoftBank Japan's third-largest cellular carrier by 2011.

Mr. Son has praised late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whom he once compared to Leonardo da Vinci, and remains close with Mr. Cook. SoftBank distributes iPhones and iPads to its approximately 20,000 employees, and Mr. Son has said he rarely touches a PC.

Patently Apple posted a report back in October titled "Foxconn and ARM to Create Chip Design Center in Shenzhen where Apple is Building a new R&D Center." That report illustrated how the SoftBank Group and Foxconn are very close and both of them are close to Apple.

When Apple's CEO visited Shenzhen back in October, Foxconn's Founder and Chairman Terry Gou accompanied Cook to meet Chairman Xu Shaoshi of China's National Development and Reform Commission and other senior Shenzhen officials. Apple's new facility will be in the same city as the new ARM chip design center.

So it's no surprise to have learned in the past week that Foxconn and Apple will be a part of the $100 billion technology fund headed by SoftBank; the very fund that will be investing US$50 + billion in the U.S. that will reportedly create 50,000 new Jobs. A fact that drives the anti-Trump camp crazy.

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