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.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$7.5 billion into its US subsidiary, the Department of Investment Review said in a statement. The department approved TSMC’s application of investing in TSMC Arizona Corp, which is engaged in the manufacturing, sales, testing and design of IC and other semiconductor devices, it said. The latest capital injection follows a US$5 billion investment for TSMC Arizona approved in June. The chipmaker has broken ground on two advanced fabs in Arizona with aggregated investments approved by the department totaling US$24 billion thus far. According to TSMC, the first Arizona
The lethal hack of Hezbollah’s Asian-branded pagers and walkie-talkies has sparked an intense search for the devices’ path, revealing a murky market for older technologies where buyers might have few assurances about what they are getting. While supply chains and distribution channels for higher-margin and newer products are tightly managed, that is not the case for older electronics from Asia where counterfeiting, surplus inventories and complex contract manufacturing deals can sometimes make it impossible to identify the source of a product, analysts and consultants say. The response from the companies at the center of the booby-trapped gadgets that killed 37
FRIENDLY TAKEOVER: While Qualcomm Inc’s proposal to buy some or all of Intel raises the prospect of other competitors, Broadcom Inc is staying on the sidelines Qualcomm Inc has approached Intel Corp to discuss a potential acquisition of the struggling chipmaker, people with knowledge of the matter said, raising the prospect of one of the biggest-ever merger and acquisition deals. California-based Qualcomm proposed a friendly takeover for Intel in recent days, said the sources, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The proposal is for all of the chipmaker, although Qualcomm has not ruled out buying some parts of Intel and selling off others. It is uncertain whether the initial approach would lead to an agreement and any deal is likely to come under close antitrust scrutiny
SECURITY CONCERNS: The proposed ban on Chinese autonomous vehicle software and hardware would go into effect with the 2027 and 2030 model years respectively The US Department of Commerce today is expected to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on US roads due to national security concerns, two sources said. US President Joe Biden’s administration has raised concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the Internet and navigation systems. The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said the two sources, who declined to be identified because the