Microsoft and Snowflake bring generative AI to data cloud services

Microsoft and cloud computing company Snowflake have expanded their partnership to bring generative artificial intelligence and machine learning to data cloud services.

The US companies will introduce programmes to boost their strategies and collaboration, California-based Snowflake said.

The partnership will also involve Snowflake expanding its initiatives with Washington-based Microsoft to bring the potential of generative AI and machine learning, two of the most sought after technologies today, to data scientists and developers, it said.

With the integration into Microsoft's Azure machine learning platform, customers will be able to speed up production workflows with access to the latest frameworks and tools, Snowflake said.

“Snowflake’s partnership with Microsoft is evolving and focused on improving our field collaboration to help our customers enter the next wave of generative AI,” Chris Degnan, chief revenue officer of Snowflake, said.

AI has long been used by businesses in their operations, but it has gained momentum with the advent of generative AI.

The technology – made popular by ChatGPT, created by Microsoft-baked OpenAI – can produce various kinds of data, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, 3D objects and videos.

Investors have poured more than $4.2 billion into generative AI start-ups in 2021 and 2022 through 215 deals after interest surged in 2019, recent data from CB Insights showed.

The global cloud computing market was valued at $368.97 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of about 16 per cent from 2022 to 2030, with emerging technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning among its primary drivers, according to Grand View Research.

Microsoft's push into bringing generative AI further into the mainstream comes after it signed up with the Dubai government to develop the Dubai Digital Cloud, a new cloud technology project as the emirate aims to boost its tech infrastructure and accelerate the pace of its digital transformation.

The company expects its cloud services portfolio to add more than $39 billion and about 100,000 jobs to the UAE economy in the next four years, a study revealed in October showed.

“Through our expanded partnership, we will combine Snowflake’s data cloud expertise with Microsoft’s cloud technologies and AI capabilities to help customers across industries build intelligent solutions to better manage, understand and govern their data,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft.

The partnership between Snowflake and Microsoft will also help users take advantage of the latest AI innovation to build intelligent data products, the companies said.

Snowflake will continue to create “seamless experiences” for customers through new and improved product integrations across complementary Microsoft products, it said.