Microsoft announced in a statement on Tuesday that it will invest $1.5 billion in G42, an artificial intelligence company located in the United Arab Emirates. In exchange, the US tech giant will receive a minority ownership and a seat on the board. As part of the cooperation, G42 will use Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform, to operate its AI services and apps and provide cutting-edge AI solutions to major corporations and clients in the public sector throughout the world.
As a new board member for G42, Microsoft President Brad Smith stated, "We will combine world-class technology with world-leading standards for safe, trusted, and responsible AI, in close coordination with the governments of both the UAE and the United States." The companies will collaborate to provide digital infrastructure and cutting-edge AI to nations in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
The collaboration takes place in the midst of Washington's attempts to stifle Beijing's technical advancements; four Chinese enterprises have been placed on an export blacklist by the US for attempting to purchase AI chips for China's military. Amid US worries about its ties with Chinese enterprises, G42 had pulled out of its investments in China and started the laborious process of removing Chinese hardware.
The creation of a $1 billion fund for developers to improve AI capabilities in the UAE and surrounding areas will receive help from Microsoft and G42.
The relationship was initially reported by The New York Times, which also stated that the arrangement removes Chinese equipment from the Emirati company's operations and imposes a number of safeguards on the AI products shared with G42. According to the report, G42 will stop using Huawei telecom equipment because the US believes it might provide Chinese espionage agencies access to backdoors.
Over the last year, G42 and Azure have worked together on several occasions, and G42 announced that it will include Microsoft's Azure data centers into its Artificial Intelligence infrastructure to increase regional uptake.
