Asia Tech Wire (June 27) -- Microsoft said Thursday that it will continue to allow its Hong Kong customers to use OpenAI's artificial intelligence models through its Azure cloud computing platform.

The company said there are "no changes" to the Azure OpenAI Service it offers in Hong Kong.

Microsoft added, "As an independent company, OpenAI makes its own decisions."

Since it began investing in OpenAI in 2019, Microsoft has committed $13 billion to the AI company and has become its largest outside investor.

Earlier, OpenAI notified Chinese customers by email that it would soon terminate its API services for users in China, including Hong Kong.

Analysts indicated that the move would be a devastating blow to those companies in China that use OpenAI's technology to develop AI applications.