Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella will visit Southeast Asia next week to meet officials in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, with artificial intelligence on the agenda at a time when the U.S. technology titan is betting on generative AI as a long-term engine of growth.
Nadella will visit Indonesia on Tuesday, then meet with Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Wednesday and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday, according to a company spokesperson.
Nadella will meet with other government officials as well and attend company developer events in each country, the spokesperson said, adding that the trip will touch on Microsoft’s AI-related plans in the region.
Microsoft has long had ties to Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 685 million people where demand for data centers and advanced technologies to power online commerce, digital transactions and disruptive tech startups is growing.
The company’s Azure cloud unit, which competes with units of Amazon, Google and Alibaba in the region, opened its first Southeast Asia data center in Singapore in 2010, and it has planned for several years to open centers in Indonesia and Malaysia.
In Thailand, the company last year pledged to pursue collaborations in AI and cloud infrastructure development with government agencies.
Analysts also point to expected heavy regional demand for AI-powered technology, which has already added to Microsoft’s bottom line on the back of its partnership with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
“It’s a potential gold mine for Microsoft in Southeast Asia as the AI revolution hits the next stage of growth," said Daniel Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities.
Microsoft recorded its highest profit growth in more than two years the October-December quarter as excitement about AI helped power the growing demand for its cloud services. Net income in the quarter rose 33% from a year earlier to $21.9 billion, with the company’s cloud business growing 30% on continuing interest in cloud AI services that Microsoft has been leaning into as part of its ties with OpenAI.
Microsoft has invested around $13 billion in OpenAI to gain a 49% stake in the profits of the startup’s for-profit arm.
The engines behind Microsoft’s AI strategy include Azure and a series of AI software assistants called Copilot, powered by the same technology behind ChatGPT.
Nadella’s trip to Southeast Asia will come on the heels of a visit by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, who floated the possibility of investing in manufacturing in Indonesia after meeting with outgoing President Joko Widodo. Apple also said it would boost spending to support its supply chain in Vietnam and announced a $250 million expansion of the company’s regional base in Singapore.
Write to Kimberley Kao at kimberley.kao@wsj.com
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMidWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmxpdmVtaW50LmNvbS9jb21wYW5pZXMvcGVvcGxlL21pY3Jvc29mdC1jZW8tdG8tdmlzaXQtc291dGhlYXN0LWFzaWEtd2l0aC1haS1vbi1hZ2VuZGEtMTE3MTQxMDEzMTExMzMuaHRtbNIBAA?oc=5
2024-04-26 03:20:16Z
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