Microsoft to Invest $1 Billion in Artificial-Intelligence Startup -- Update
22 Julio 2019 - 12:57PM
Noticias Dow Jones
By Sarah E. Needleman Microsoft Corp. said Monday that it would invest $1 billion in
artificial-intelligence startup OpenAI LP, as the software giant
seeks to enhance its Azure cloud-computing platform.
The companies said they would jointly develop supercomputing
technologies for Azure, a fast-growing system that has helped
propel Microsoft's growth as the world's most valuable public
company.
Microsoft and OpenAI plan to work on artificial general
intelligence, they said. That area represents a more futuristic
version of AI that aims to work across different fields, rather
than being more narrowly focused on specific tasks such as writing
or translation.
Microsoft has been adding features to Azure to drive growth.
Azure is second in size to Amazon.com Inc.'s AWS cloud-computing
product. Microsoft said last week that Azure sales rose 64% in the
most recent quarter, compared with a year earlier.
"The quintessential characteristic for any application being
built in 2019 and beyond will be AI," Chief Executive Satya Nadella
said on an earnings call Thursday.
"This is a big investment for Microsoft, even at their size,"
said Stifel analyst Brad Reback. "They'll do scores of acquisitions
annually but most of them tend to be smaller technology
tuck-ins."
OpenAI was launched in 2015 as a nonprofit with a goal of
leading efforts to develop artificial general intelligence. It
competes with Alphabet Inc.'s DeepMind Technologies and others.
OpenAI is led by CEO Sam Altman, the former president of Y
Combinator.
The Microsoft investment signals a vote of confidence in
OpenAI's recent transformation into a private company from a
nonprofit. In March, OpenAI revamped its legal structure to raise
more money and gain scale, which enabled it to accept the
investment from Microsoft.
Greg Brockman, OpenAI's co-founder and chairman, said the
company planned to spend the Microsoft investment in no more than
five years. As part of the deal, OpenAI will run its services on
Azure and use Microsoft as its preferred partner to commercialize
its AI technologies.
Microsoft in recent years has focused on expanding into AI,
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said. With the OpenAI deal, he said,
"Microsoft is trying to find ways to commercialize and monetize
their AI investments."
Mr. Ives estimates that sales from AI-related products and
services could represent a $75 billion to $100 billion market over
the next decade.
Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 22, 2019 13:42 ET (17:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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