According to CNBC, Apple had conversations with a foundation of SoftBank Technology which has a market value of $ 100.000 billion. The intention of the company that Tim Cook runs is invest $ 1.000 billion in the foundation, which would be 1% of its total value, although the talks have not finished yet. This would be a somewhat strange investment, since it would be the first time that Apple invested in a venture capital fund.
According to President-elect Donald Trump, SoftBank will use half of its value, about $ 50.000 billion, to invest in American businesses. The reasons why Apple is interested in this foundation are not very well known, but it seems that they do not want to distinguish themselves from something that would initially be very beneficial for the United States since, if they did so, they could be harmed by Trump's management in the medium-term future.
SoftBank Technology is the first venture capital fund in which Apple invests
Apple does tend to invest in other companies, such as Didi Chuxing, from where it hopes to learn for its own future projects related to the Chinese market or car-related services, but we can only speculate about the real reason why intends to invest in SoftBank Technology. The Wall Street Journal says that those in Cupertino could take advantage of the investment to know from within what technologies are emerging, information that I personally think you could use to improve your own products. The bad thing is that I am either very wrong or we will never know the whole truth about this investment.
On the other hand, what SoftBank achieves is clearer: validating the value of the foundation with the backing of the largest company in the world while raising more capital.