(ANSA-AFP) - DUBAI, APRIL 17 - Microsoft will invest 1.5 billion dollars in the artificial intelligence company G42 of the United Arab Emirates, taking a minority stake and a seat on the board of directors. The agreement comes a few days after the US giant declared that it would invest 2.9 billion dollars in Japanese artificial intelligence.
Microsoft has become a major player in the artificial intelligence industry with its partnership with OpenAI, maker of ChatGpt, even surpassing Apple as the largest company in the world by market capitalization.
According to the New York Times and Bloomberg, the investment followed talks between the governments of the United States and the United Arab Emirates in which the G42 agreed to sever Chinese partnerships in favor of American technology.
Microsoft President Brad Smith, who will join G42's board of directors, told Bloomberg that his company "has received strong encouragement from the U.S. government to move forward with this process."
The deal appears to mark the latest blow in the U.S.-China battle over technology, which includes Washington's sanctions on Huawei and focuses on concerns over intellectual property and data protection. The Abu Dhabi-based G42 is part of the $1.5 trillion business empire of National Security Advisor Tahnoon binZayed, brother of United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed. Under the new agreement, G42 will offer artificial intelligence services via Microsoft's Azure to public sector customers and large enterprises across various industries focusing on the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. (ANSA-AFP).