Microsoft buys Nuance Communications in a $16 billion deal

Yesterday, we wrote about a report that Microsoft was in talks to buy AI and speech technology company Nuance Communications for about $16 billion. This morning, Microsoft confirmed in an announcement that it will buy speech recognition company Nuance Communications in a deal worth about $16 billion.

Microsoft said the acquisition of Nuance will help the tech giant to accelerate its industry cloud strategy for healthcare. In an announcement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said,

“Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI. AI is technology’s most important priority, and healthcare is its most urgent application. Together, with our partner ecosystem, we will put advanced AI solutions into the hands of professionals everywhere to drive better decision-making and create more meaningful connections, as we accelerate the growth of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nuance.”

In recent years, Microsoft has accelerated its efforts to provide industry-specific cloud offerings to support customers and partners as they respond to disruption and new opportunities. As part of these efforts, in 2020, the tech giant introduced Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare which aims to address the comprehensive needs of the rapidly transforming and growing healthcare industry.

Nuance would be Microsoft’s second-biggest deal, after its $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016. Meanwhile, Reuters added that the two companies did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Founded in 1992 by Ronald Croen, the Burlington, Massachusetts-based Nuance delivers solutions that understand, analyze, and respond to people – amplifying human intelligence to increase productivity and security.

With decades of domain and AI expertise, Nuance works with thousands of organizations globally across healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, government, and retail – to create stronger relationships and better experiences for their customers and workforce.

Nuance’s voice recognition technology helped launch Apple Inc’s assistant Siri. Nuance also makes software for a host of other sectors ranging from healthcare to the automotive industries.