US, Japan Zero In on Energy and Chips for $550 Billion Fund

The US and Japan are closing in on the first three projects to be funded by Tokyo’s $550 billion investment vehicle, according to people familiar with the matter, as the nations seek to set in motion a key component of their bilateral trade deal reached last year.

The three projects, considered finalists in a review process, are related to a data center infrastructure project led by SoftBank Group Corp., a deep sea oil terminal in the Gulf of Mexico and synthetic diamonds for semiconductors, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing the content of private negotiations. SoftBank didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.