On Friday, Toyota Motor Corp (TM:NYSE) announced its plan to divest a stake valued at approximately 250 billion yen ($1.80 billion) in the telecommunications company KDDI (OTC:KDDIF) Corp. This strategic move aims to raise funds to expedite the process of vehicle electrification.

Last month, the world’s largest automaker by sales unveiled sweeping plans to improve the driving range and cut costs of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), including through development of solid-state batteries, as it seeks to catch up on rivals.

Toyota aimed to sell 3.5 million BEVs by 2030 and invest 5 trillion yen in BEV-related businesses by the decade’s end.

It said in a statement on Friday a “large amount of investment is needed” to survive amid fierce competition and achieve medium- and long-term growth.

Toyota said Japan’s KDDI will buy back shares at 3,900 yen a piece between July 31 and Aug. 28, or 8.7% lower than KDDI’s closing price of 4,271 yen on Friday.

The sale will cut the automaker’s stake in KDDI to 11.71% from 14.68%.

Toyota’s association with KDDI traces back to the late 1980s, during Japan’s telecommunications sector liberalization. The automaker was involved in establishing one of KDDI’s precursor companies.

In 2020, Toyota said it would invest 52.2 billion yen in the mobile carrier to deepen their partnership.

They also formed a business alliance for research and development on projects such as telecommunications platforms to connect cars and homes.