March 19 (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos is in early discussions to raise $100 billion for a new fund that would acquire manufacturing companies and seek to use AI to drive and speed up automation, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

* The Amazon.com ( AMZN ) founder is holding talks with some of theworld's biggest asset managers to secure funding for theproject, WSJ said. * Bezos traveled to the Middle East to discuss the new fundwith sovereign wealth representatives in the region a few monthsago, according to the report. * Described in investor documents as a "manufacturingtransformation vehicle," the fund aims to target companies inmajor industries such as chipmaking, defense, and aerospace, theJournal said. * Last year, The New York Times reported that Bezos wouldserve as co-CEO of a new startup called Project Prometheusfocused on AI for engineering and manufacturing computers,automobiles and spacecraft. * Project Prometheus is separately in talks to raise up to$6 billion in funding, WSJ said, citing people familiar with thematter. It recently named David Limp, Blue Origin's CEO, to itsboard of directors. * Project Prometheus raised $6.2 billion late last year,according to a Financial Times report from February. * Bezos could not be immediately reached for comment. Theproject's co-founders, Sherjil Ozair and William Guss, did notrespond to Reuters requests for comment on LinkedIn.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City)