Outside its primary role providing telecoms services to the world’s largest mobile market, carrier China Unicom is also training an eye to venture investing.

An arm of the Chinese state-owned carrier has invested 200 million yuan ($28.3 million) in a fund operated by Kaixing Guangxin Yihao, an investment firm based in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, according to a statement released on the website of the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

The deal will help China Unicom “boost efforts to seek more acquisitions and investment targets,” the statement said.

The fund will be used to invest in emerging information technologies, big data, and artificial intelligence in and around Guangzhou, the statement added — three fields that China sees as a driving force for its sluggish economy.

Contact reporter Ding Yi (yiding@caixin.com)