Japan`s SoftBank Group Corp reported on Monday a 21 percent rise in second-quarter operating profit as the value of its technology investments grew.

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The Japanese tech and telecoms firm is funnelling money to U.S. firms as it invests in technology companies around the world, including through its $98 billion Vision Fund, as founder Masayoshi Son pursues his vision of a future driven by artificial intelligence, interconnected devices and robotics.

Profit for the July-September quarter rose to 395.6 billion yen ($3.46 billion) from 328.1 billion yen a year earlier, the company said. Excluding profit from the Vision Fund, income would have fallen 4 percent.

Son is under pressure to turn around its U.S. wireless unit Sprint Corp, especially after it broke off merger talks with T-Mobile US Inc.

SoftBank said on Sunday it would raise its stake in Sprint to under 85 percent from 83 percent in a show of commitment to the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier which, while managing to grow its customer base, has relied on heavy discounting to do so and is weighed down with $38 billion of debt.

($1 = 114.2700 yen)

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)