Microsoft Corp is to invest US$1.5 billion in the top artificial intelligence (AI) firm in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), G42, bolstering the Abu Dhabi-based company’s commitment to scale back its presence in China.
As part of the accord, Microsoft president Brad Smith is to join G42’s board and G42 would use the US software maker’s Azure cloud for its AI applications.
The agreement, an expansion of an existing partnership between the two companies, was developed in consultation with the UAE and US governments, Smith and G42 chief executive officer Peng Xiao (肖鵬) said in an interview.
Photo: AFP
“Microsoft got strong encouragement from the US government to move forward in this process,” Smith said. “That reflects a recognition by the US government of the importance of the relationship between the two countries, and the importance of continuing to encourage responsible companies like G42 and Microsoft really be at the forefront, not only of the technology itself, but of world-leading security and safety and responsible AI standards.”
G42, which has been a leader in the UAE’s push into AI, has businesses spanning everything from cloud computing to driverless vehicles. It is part of the US$1.5 trillion empire of UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The investment gives Microsoft a minority stake in G42, said Xiao, who declined to disclose financial terms or say how much G42 would spend on Microsoft’s cloud services.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft and G42 would also set up a US$1 billion fund for developers.
In a later stage of the deal, Microsoft is to host some of its own applications in G42’s data centers and use the relationship as a way to reach customers in Africa and central Asia, Smith said.
“There are markets today where Microsoft and really no American technology company has a real data center presence,” he said. “This is the kind of partnership that can really bring the cloud and AI to the global south probably a decade faster than would otherwise be the case.”
The investment agreement, signed when Smith visited Abu Dhabi earlier this month, is the product of a year of talks that included coordination with government officials in both nations.
Xiao in an interview in February said that the company would reduce its presence in China, and pledged to invest in key Western markets.
That came after a key US lawmaker urged the US Department of Commerce to consider trade restrictions on the firm over its ties to Beijing, following allegations made in a New York Times article.
G42 denied the report, and said the company has “pursued a commercial strategy since 2022 to fully align with our US partners and not to engage with Chinese companies.”
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors