Microsoft and Xiaomi to collaborate on AI, cloud computing and hardware

After Microsoft signed a deal to test Windows 10 on Xiaomi devices in 2015 and then Xiaomi bought a trove of patents to help run other Microsoft services on its devices in 2016, today the two companies announced another chapter in its collaboration. Xiaomi and Microsoft have signed a Strategic Framework Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work more closely in the areas of cloud computing, AI (including Microsoft's Cortana business) and hardware. To date, Xiaomi has largely focused its mobile phone strategy in Asia Pacific, where Gartner revealed yesterday that it (and Huawei) were the only two vendors to increase their market shares at a time of general decline. This deal could point to how Xiaomi is looking to raise its game in the West, specifically in the US, especially as it eyes up an IPO that has been reported to potentially value the company at $100 billion. On the side of Microsoft, it's particularly interesting given that the company has largely pulled back on a lot of its hardware efforts, and has visibly had some major stumbles in this area especially in mobile -- most recently with its failure to take on and grow the Nokia mobile business and Windows Mobile. Understanding that mobile isn't an area that Microsoft can quite step away from altogether, it seems that the company is going to have one more go now on with a different partner (one that is still on the rise) and a different approach.