Microsoft has invested $1.5 billion in technology companies based in the United Arab Emirates and overseen by the country's powerful national security adviser.
Microsoft and technology holding company G42 announced the partnership on Tuesday. As part of the agreement, Microsoft President Brad Smith will join G42's board of directors.
The agreement was “developed in close consultation with both the UAE and U.S. governments,” Microsoft said.
Abu Dhabi-based G42 operates data centers in the Middle East and elsewhere, and is increasingly identifying itself as an AI company. The company has built what is believed to be the world's leading Arabic AI model, known as Jais.
Microsoft said G42 will run its AI applications and services on the US tech giant's cloud computing platform, and the two companies will deploy digital infrastructure in countries where G42 has an established presence in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He said he would work on it.
G42 previously cut ties with Chinese hardware suppliers, citing US concerns that G42 is getting too close to the Chinese government and appears to be abandoning ties with the US in an escalating tech war with China. It was stated that. “We cannot cooperate with both sides,” G42 CEO Peng Xiao said in December.
The company faces espionage charges related to a mobile phone app identified as spyware. It also faces allegations that it may have secretly collected genetic material from Americans for the Chinese government.
Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE National Security Adviser, is the company's chairman of the board.
