Satya Nadella is hoping to prove he's the shrewdest dealmaker in AI. Microsoft just put $1.5 billion in UAE firm G42 while getting it to divest its China ties. G42 has been linked to a chip venture led by Microsoft's other main AI bet, OpenAI. Last month, Nadella pulled off a big coup by hiring Mustafa Suleyman, a DeepMind cofounder and Inflection AI CEO, and several of his software engineers to head up a new AI division at Microsoft. InflectionThe move involved a $650 million payment to Inflection AI that would also allow Microsoft to license Inflection's AI models.

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Persons: Satya Nadella, —, Redmond, Peng Xiao, hasn't, Sam Altman, Nadella, Brad Smith, who's, …, Altman, Mustafa Suleyman, Mistral Organizations: Microsoft, Service, OpenAI, Huawei Locations: UAE, China, Abu Dhabi, DarkMatter, Beijing, @G42ai, OpenAI, Paris