The acquisition will add solutions and expertise to provide new cloud and AI capabilities in healthcare and other industries, according to the Redmond-based company.
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Microsoft said on Monday that it has agreed to buy Nuance Communications, a cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) software firm with cash transactions totaling $ 19.7 billion, including debt.
The acquisition represents the latest step in Microsoft’s industry-specific cloud strategy to deliver new cloud and AI capabilities across healthcare and other industries by adding solutions and expertise, the Redmond-based company said.
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement, “Nunes provides an AI layer in terms of delivery at the healthcare point and Enterprise is a real-world leader in AI. “AI is the most important priority of technology, and healthcare is its most important application.”
Nuance’s products include a number of diagnostic speech recognition software as a built-in service (SaaS) offering on Microsoft Azure. The firm’s solutions work with the core healthcare system, and are currently used in 77% of US hospitals, it noted in a release.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance is based on existing partnerships between firms announced in 2019 to help transform healthcare delivery. Last year, the software giant introduced Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare to meet the needs of a rapidly changing and growing healthcare industry.
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Nadella said, “Together with our partner ecosystem, we will be putting advanced AI solutions in the hands of professionals everywhere to make better decisions and make more meaningful connections, as we accelerate the development of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nussens Huh.”
Beyond healthcare, Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions in interactive voice response, virtual assistant and digital and biometric solutions.
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Mark Benjamin will continue as CEO of Nouns, and Scott Guthrie, VP, will report to Cloud & AI on Microsoft, the company noted.
The deal is intended to close by the end of this calendar year, and will be Microsoft’s second-largest purchase since the 2016 acquisition of LinkedIn for $ 26.2 billion. Last month, Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media for $ 7.5 billion.
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