• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 17, 2024

Microsoft has made a sizable investment in another artificial intelligence (AI) company.

Earlier this week, the company announced a $1.5 billion investment in United Arab Emirates artificial intelligence firm G42. 

With the infusion of funds, Microsoft gains a minority stake in the company, and Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith gains a seat on G42's board.

“Our two companies will work together not only in the UAE, but to bring AI and digital infrastructure and services to underserved nations,” Smith wrote in a blog post. “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 latest in Microsoft's high stakes investment in AI is a sign that it plans to dominate the market, not just through ties with U.S. companies, but throughout the world. The investment also could lead to stronger ties for its advertising business, though no information had been provided on whether Microsoft’s search business or ad business would benefit. 

G42 is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a powerful member of Abu Dhabi's royal family and UAE national security adviser, and is backed by Emirati sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.

Founded in 2018, G42 has partnered with Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and Oracle.

The company has other partners such as those in China, but its recent ties in the country have come under scrutiny in the U.S. amid growing security concerns.

This is not a completely new collaboration, but rather an expansion. Prior to this investment, the collaboration between G42 and Microsoft had expanded through several milestones during the past year.;

These include a joint plan announced in April 2023 to develop AI solutions for the public sector and advertising industry, leveraging Microsoft's partner ecosystem and cloud capabilities. 

In September 2023, the companies entered into an agreement to introduce sovereign cloud offerings and collaborate on advanced AI capabilities on the Azure public cloud platform. 

And in November 2023, Microsoft announced the availability of G42's Jais Arabic Large Language Model on the new Azure AI Cloud Model-as-a-Service offering.