SoftBank has invested $9.4 million in a startup named Packet, which provides bare metal cloud for developers. In addition to the Series A funding round, the companies have formed a strategic partnership to bring Packet's technology and public cloud services to Japan.

Packet’s bare metal server technology automates physical servers and networks without the use of virtualization or multi-tenancy to provide on-demand compute and connectivity.

A spokesman for Packet clarified the company’s technology, saying “Bare metal cloud is a cloud service run on bare metal servers, which are fully dedicated servers (not multi-tenant) and don't rely on hypervisors/virtualization.”

Customers can either build on Packet’s public cloud service or use its automation software to enable their own private compute infrastructure. The bare metal cloud supports DevOps style automation as it can be integrated with tools like Mesosphere DC/OS, CoreOS Tectonic, Terraform, and Ansible.

“Compared to AWS and Azure, Packet offers a very similar developer-focused experience,” said the spokesman.

Packet has existing public cloud data centers in New York, Silicon Valley, and Amsterdam. This support from SoftBank gives it an entrance into Asia's cloud market. Packet was founded in 2014 with $1.7 million in seed funding. It launched its product in August 2015 and now has over 3,000 users.

Earlier this year, SoftBank said it was purchasing ARM Holdings — a company that licenses chip designs — for $32 billion.