Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it has reached a cooperation with SpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet service to expand global network coverage. Even as the world's richest man takes Microsoft partner OpenAI to court, the move shows the software company's willingness to work with companies owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Microsoft Chief Sustainability Officer Melanie Nakagawa said in a blog post:
"Through its cooperation with Starlink, Microsoft combines low-Earth orbit satellite connection capabilities with a community-based deployment model and a local ecological cooperation system."
Microsoft is working with Starlink and an internet service provider in Kenya to provide connectivity to 450 community centers in the country, she wrote.
The collaboration will bring more demand to Musk's aerospace company. SpaceX has signed contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA and is expected to go public this year.
Musk is seeking to recover up to $134 billion from the OpenAI Foundation in a case against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to a legal filing in January. The nonprofit holds more than $100 billion in equity in OpenAI, a for-profit AI lab.
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with several people, including LinkedIn founder and Microsoft board member Reed Hoffman.
Musk has been critical of Microsoft on his social platform
Huffman said he deeply regretted having met Epstein through his fundraising ties to MIT.
Earlier this month, Musk announced that SpaceX would merge with its artificial intelligence startup xAI. xAI develops the Grok large model and chatbot, which is becoming a popular choice in technology applications.
Last year, Microsoft said its Foundry cloud software for building AI applications had added support for the Grok model.
For years, Microsoft has been committed to connecting people through technology, including here in the United States.
Nakagawa said on Tuesday that Microsoft set a goal in 2022 to provide Internet access to more than 250 million people by the end of 2025, and has now expanded coverage to more than 299 million people.