Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) may be spending $39 billion to acquire NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI), but it still has more cash to invest, with The Wall Street Journal reporting it has signed up to be an investor in Softbank Group’s new technology fund, which is aiming to raise $100 billion total and will invest $50 billion in the U.S.

The WSJ cited people familiar with the matter as saying Qualcomm is finalizing its investment in the fund. The paper noted that Apple Inc. (AAPL) has already agreed to invest in the fund. With the inclusion of Qualcomm and Apple, the fund, which was created by Softbank and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, the venture gets even more credibility. It’s aimed at investing in next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality and robotics.

While Qualcomm’s main business is making chips for smartphones, it has been branching into other areas. In September, Qualcomm rolled out a reference platform for a stand-alone virtual-reality headset dubbed Snapdragon VR820. The headset, which Qualcomm developed with Chinese electronics company Goertek, is built on the company’s Snapdragon 820 mobile processor and software kit. The reference design can be easily adapted into products by other companies. Qualcomm predicts commercial devices based on Snapdragon VR820 will be released in 2017. In November, it announced a partnership with Interactive Entertainment Group, a unit of Chinese game content provider Tencent. The two are collaborating to come up with ways to create immersive experiences for gaming and entertainment consumers and are creating a “joint innovation” center to come up with new gaming and applications for consumers. (See also: Qualcomm: A Win From Sales of VR Gear?)

Softbank’s fund, which was announced in October, came back into the spotlight after Softbank’s Chief Executive Masayoshi Son met with President-elect Donald Trump and pledged to invest $50 billion of the fund in the U.S. and create jobs. The WSJ noted the fund has already landed $100 billion in commitments and will formally roll out in the next few weeks.

By: DocMemory
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