Elon Musk attends the 56th annual World Financial Discussion board assembly in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
Microsoft on Tuesday introduced a collaboration with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc web service to increase connectivity internationally.
It is a signal of the software program firm’s willingness to collaborate with Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s household of companies, because the world’s richest particular person takes Microsoft associate OpenAI to court docket.
“By our collaboration with Starlink, Microsoft is combining low-Earth orbit satellite tv for pc connectivity with community-based deployment fashions and native ecosystem partnerships,” Microsoft’s chief sustainability officer, Melanie Nakagawa, wrote in a weblog submit.
In alliance with Starlink and an web service supplier in Kenya, Microsoft is working to attach 450 neighborhood hubs within the nation, Nakagawa wrote.
The work will add to demand for Musk’s house firm, which has contracts with the Division of Protection and NASA and will doubtlessly go public this 12 months.
In his case in opposition to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Musk is trying to recuperate as a lot as $134 billion from the nonprofit OpenAI Basis, which holds over $100 billion in fairness within the for-profit AI lab, in line with a January authorized submitting.
Musk cofounded OpenAI in 2015 together with a number of others, together with LinkedIn founder and Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman.
Musk has been essential of Microsoft on his social community X and stated earlier this month that the corporate “has a accountability to analyze” Hoffman’s affiliation with convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Hoffman stated that he deeply regretted that he knew Epstein via a fundraising relationship with the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise.
Earlier this month, Musk stated SpaceX was merging along with his xAI startup that developed the Grok AI mannequin and chatbot that has been gaining traction as a platform of alternative for tech purposes.
Final 12 months, Microsoft stated its Foundry cloud software program for constructing AI-infused purposes added assist for Grok fashions.
Microsoft has been working to attach folks with expertise for a few years, together with within the U.S.
After setting a purpose in 2022 to deliver the web to over 250 million folks earlier than the top of 2025, it has prolonged protection to greater than 299 million folks, Nakagawa wrote Tuesday.
WATCH: Why the U.S. and SpaceX want one another
