Asia Tech Wire (Apr 16) -- Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a $1.5 billion investment in UAE-based artificial intelligence company G42.

The investment will strengthen the partnership between the two companies, and will bring Microsoft's latest AI technology and skills training programs to the UAE and the rest of the world.

Under the partnership agreement, Microsoft President Brad Smith will join G42's board of directors, while G42 will operate its AI applications and services on Azure, Microsoft's cloud computing platform.

The investment enables Microsoft to take a minority stake in G42.

As that partnership became public, several media outlets reported that the U.S. government had reached a secret deal with G42, which agreed to divest from China and switch to U.S. technology.

G42 CEO Peng Xiao said in February that the company would divest from China.

In exchange for G42's divestment from China, the U.S. government assured G42 that it would continue to have access to U.S. technology that drives artificial intelligence applications, including Nvidia chips.

The divestment plan also set the stage for Microsoft's announcement Tuesday that it would invest $1.5 billion in G42.