TOKYO -- Japan's SoftBank Group on Friday announced the successor to its blockbuster Vision Fund, a new $108-billion vehicle with backing from banks and tech firms that it said would accelerate the "AI revolution".

SoftBank Group itself will plough $38 billion into the fund, which will also include investments from Apple, Microsoft, Foxconn, a range of Japanese banks, Standard Chartered, and the National Bank of Kazakstan.

In a statement, SoftBank Group said Vision Fund 2 would "facilitate the continued acceleration of the AI (artificial intelligence) revolution though investment in market-leading, tech-enabled growth companies".

Originally a software giant, SoftBank has increasingly become an investment firm, taking stakes in leading tech start-ups from Uber to WeWork through its first Vision Fund, which was largely backed by Saudi Arabia.

The announcement of Vision Fund 2 made no mention of Saudi Arabia among the investors, though reports ahead of the announcement suggested Riyadh was in negotiations to put money into the fund.

The Japanese firm's strong ties with the kingdom came under scrutiny after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

But SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son made clear after the murder that he would continue working with Riyadh, saying he was "deeply saddened" by Khashoggi's death but adding: "we cannot turn our backs on the Saudi people."

Saudi Arabia is believed to have put around $45 billion into the first Vision Fund, which was announced in October 2016 and has gone on to invest in some of the tech world's hottest firms, including Slack and Nvidia.

In May, Son told a press conference that the Fund was "the most important management engine" for his firm.

He said all the unicorns -- venture-backed firms worth at least $1 billion -- listed on Wall Street that his fund has invested in are "number-one firms in their own fields".

"I don't want to be number two... I have not been able to accept that ever since I was a child," said the flamboyant tycoon.

© Agence France-Presse