G42 Chair Sheikh Tahnoon meets Satya Nadella at Microsoft HQ
Microsoft made a $1.5 billion investment in Abu Dhabi AI firm G42 in April
G42 Chairman Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed meets with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella last June in Seattle. (Emirates News Agency)
UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, who also chairs Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence firm G42, headed for Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., following a three-day state visit to Washington, D.C.
He met with CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday to discuss “ways to strengthen collaboration,” according to a post on X. Microsoft, the biggest backer and partner of generative AI market leader OpenAI, made a $1.5 billion investment in G42 in April.
The deal brought Abu Dhabi’s AI champion into the fold of American companies leading tech’s big wave. The investment required G42 to sever its ties with Chinese manufacturers like Huawei.
Sheikh Tahnoon, who also chairs two Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds – Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and ADQ – is now working on behalf of the UAE to finalize a data protection and intellectual property agreement with the U.S.
The aim is to assuage fears over national security as the trade relationship increasingly funnels investments to machine learning, semiconductors and aerospace.