Satya Nadella secures $1.5 billion OpenAI-style deal with G42, cementing Microsoft’s AI lead

When it comes to closing deals, there’s no one better than Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. If you’re wondering, how his deal with Sam Altman-led OpenAI stole the show from Google, Metaplatform, Apple, and even Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other tech industry figures. Please check whether it is. There’s no doubt that Microsoft has been in the driver’s seat when it comes to driving the AI ​​giant forward.

But Nadella is not resting on his laurels. He continues to build more relationships because he is getting great results from amazing deals. That was the case recently with our deal with Inflection AI. Nadella had hired Mustafa Suleiman, co-founder of Google’s DeepMind and CEO of Inflection AI, to lead Microsoft’s new AI division. While Inflection got his $650 million in repayments to investors, Microsoft got not only top tech talent but also its own technology. This was the same strategy that brought his OpenAI to Microsoft.

The important thing about these deals is that he not only gets the best technology brains in the world to work at Microsoft, but he also gets the best technology. Well, Nadella has gone ahead and pulled off another amazing trade. He also managed this transaction despite huge hurdles. He signed a $1.5 billion deal with G42, an Abu Dhabi-based company said to be involved in OpenAI and its chip manufacturing plans. The problem was the company’s close ties to China and some Chinese companies, including the much-banned Huawei. So you can imagine how grim the situation must have been when he must have taken this issue to the US government.

Nevertheless, he got the deal and even convinced the G42 to cut ties with China in the deal.

“We are working closely with the governments of both the UAE and the United States to combine world-class technology and world-leading standards for safe, trustworthy, and responsible AI,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a post. I’ll go,” he said.

“Through Microsoft’s strategic investment, we are furthering our mission to deliver cutting-edge AI technology at scale,” said Peng Xiao, CEO of G42 Group.