U.S.-backed Microsoft deal elbows out China’s AI in Gulf

AXIOS April 17, 2024
Ryan Heath, Ina Fried

Microsoft’s new $1.5 billion partnership with G42, a government-backed tech-investing giant in the UAE, marks a stunning move in AI’s increasingly frantic global chess game.

Why it matters: The deal enlarges America’s AI tent and sidelines China from the UAE market while placing Microsoft’s AI business at the heart of American geopolitical interests and policy.

Driving the news: The deal was partly brokered by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and hands Microsoft president Brad Smith a seat on the G42 board.

• G42 gets to put the UAE’s homegrown AI models on Microsoft’s Azure platform.
• Microsoft will get much of its investment back as G42 pays for its Azure cloud services. This sort of deal has already attracted antitrust scrutiny in...

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