Asia Tech Wire (July 12) -- Two veteran U.S. House members have urged an intelligence assessment of Microsoft's investment in UAE-based artificial intelligence company G42.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, and John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, jointly signed a letter on Wednesday asking Washington to conduct an intelligence assessment of Microsoft's $1.5 billion investment in G42.

They called for a review of G42's relationship with China, adding that the president of the United Arab Emirates had earlier visited China and discussed artificial intelligence cooperation.

The lawmakers said that according to earlier communications with Microsoft, Microsoft will sell strictly regulated AI chips and AI models to G42.

They expressed concern about the relationship between G42 employees and DarkMatter, a UAE-based digital security firm allegedly involved in cyber-espionage.

G42 divested its investments in China in February and accepted the restrictions proposed by the US.

The UAE firm has invested in or partnered with Chinese companies, including TikTok owner ByteDance, Sinopharm and U.S.-blacklisted BGI Genomics.

The New York Times reported in April that the U.S. government brokered the Microsoft-G42 partnership deal as a way to prevent the company from working with China.

But U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo had said at the time that the agreement did not authorize the transfer of artificial intelligence models or chips.