Microsoft has acquired artificial intelligence and voice technology company Nuance Communications Inc. The reported sum is said to be $19.7 billion, which would be the US firm’s second-largest acquisition, after LinkedIn in 2016 for $27 billion.

Nuance and Microsoft have been collaborating together since 2019 in the medical field and more specifically in telemedicine, a sector that is booming with the pandemic. The company Nuance, founded in 1992 and based in Burlington, Massachusetts, in the United States, produces software and artificial intelligence solutions for various sectors such as the automotive industry or health. It also built a solid reputation in the field after developing a voice recognition technology that helped launch Siri, Apple’s voice command application.

This new acquisition allows Microsoft to strengthen once again in AI, a highly prized sector as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella commented:

“Artificial intelligence is the critical priority in the technology sector, and healthcare is its most urgent application.”

Translated from Microsoft rachète Nuance Communications pour la somme de 19,7 milliards de dollars