Saudi wealth fund diversifies into robotics and US infrastructure

Saudi Arabia has announced two massive wealth fund investments in the last week, signalling a dramatic commitment to a diversification of the country's sovereign investments.

The country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced it would place $45 billion in the world's biggest technology fund, the SoftBank Vision Fund, on Saturday.

The Japanese wealth fund finances ground-breaking projects in artificial intelligence and robotics and is also backed by Mubadala Investment Company of the United Arab Emirates, Apple, Foxconn, Qualcomm and Sharp.

"The next stage of the Information Revolution is under way," the SoftBank Vision Fund said in a statement.

On Monday, PIF also announced it would invest a further $20 billion in Blackstone, the US-based asset manager, to create a new infrastructure business.

"Through the equity in this vehicle and additional debt financing, Blackstone expects to invest in more than $100bn of infrastructure projects, principally in the US," the two parties said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump made numerous promises during his election campaign to renovate the country's crumbling infrastructure.

The deal followed what was the largest military deal between the two countries ever.