Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled a partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink to expand internet connectivity around the world – signaling its openness to working with Elon Musk’s companies despite the exec’s feud with OpenAI, with which Microsoft has a strategic partnership.
The world’s richest person has been engaged in a heated legal battle with OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman – demanding $134 billion from both Microsoft and OpenAI and saying he deserves the “wrongful gains” reaped from his early support of the start-up, according to court filings.
But it seems the software giant isn’t holding a grudge against Musk, announcing a partnership between Microsoft, Starlink and an internet service provider in Kenya to connect 540 community hubs throughout the country, according to a Microsoft blog post.
“Through our collaboration with Starlink, Microsoft is combining low-Earth orbit satellite connectivity with community-based deployment models and local ecosystem partnerships,” Microsoft’s chief sustainability officer, Melanie Nakagawa, wrote in the post.
“This is intended to expand the set of tools available to deliver digital access while remaining firmly embedded in a holistic, partnership-driven approach.”
The deal adds to growing demand for Musk’s space company, which holds several government contracts with the Department of War and NASA – and is reportedly weighing an IPO this year.
Musk has floated going public in mid-June, as the company aims to raise up to $50 billion at a $1.5 billion valuation, the Financial Times previously reported.
Meanwhile, the tech titan has launched a relentless court battle against OpenAI, alleging the ChatGPT-maker violated its founding mission by transforming into a for-profit entity.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 alongside Altman and several others, including LinkedIn founder and Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman.
On his social media platform X, home to the xAI chatbot Grok, Musk has taken aim at Microsoft, arguing it “has a responsibility to investigate” Hoffman’s ties to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A batch of the Epstein files released earlier this year revealed correspondence discussing Hoffman’s visits to Epstein’s infamous private island, New Mexico ranch and New York apartment.
Hoffman has said that he knew Epstein through a fundraising relationship with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and regrets their contact.
Musk and Altman have repeatedly traded barbs on social media – most recently dissolving into an ugly fight over whose technology has killed more people: Musk’s Tesla Autopilot or Altman’s ChatGPT.
Earlier this month, Musk announced that SpaceX would merge with xAI, his tech startup behind the Grok chatbot.
Microsoft’s Foundry cloud software is built to support Grok models, the company said last year.
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