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Updated 10 hours ago - Technology Microsoft buys Nuance for nearly $20 billion as it readies deal frenzy Sara Fischer, author of Media Trends Illustration: Aida Amer/Axios Microsoft announced Monday it would buy Nuance Communications, a software company that focuses on speech recognition through artificial intelligence, in an all-cash transaction valued at $19.7 billion (including debt assumption). Why it matters: This is Microsoft's second-largest acquisition, behind the $26.2 billion deal for LinkedIn in 2016. * Microsoft is trying to leapfrog competitors like Google and Amazon as they face record antitrust scrutiny. * Its cloud business has also been booming during the pandemic. Microsoft's stock hit an all-time high on Friday, as it approaches $2 trillion in market value. Details: Nuance makes money by selling software tools that help to transcribe speech. The Burlington, Massachusetts-based company, for example, powered the speech recognition engine behind Apple's voice assistant, Siri. The big picture: The deals Microsoft is eyeing are significantly larger than its usual targets. * Microsoft tried to buy TikTok's U.S. operations last year in a deal reportedly valued between $10 billion to $30 billion. Reports suggest it's in advanced talks with gaming chat app Discord for a deal worth more than $10 billion. * A report in February suggested Microsoft was eyeing a takeover of Pinterest, worth $53 billion on the public market. Last September, it bought gaming giant ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion. Bottom line: Aside from its acquisition of Linkedin, Microsoft's biggest deals have all been worth less than $10 billion. (The company purchased aQuantive for roughly $6 billion in 2007 and Skype for $8.5 billion in 2011. It bought Nokia for $7.2 billion in 2014 and and GitHub for $7.5 billion in 2019.) Go deeper Ina Fried, Mike Allen 2 hours ago - Technology Intel CEO calls for "moonshot" to boost U.S. role in chipmaking Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. Photo: Horacio Villalobos - Corbis/Getty Images Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger called Monday for the U.S. to spend billions of dollars over the next few years as part of a "moonshot" designed to regain lost ground in semiconductor manufacturing. The goal, he said, is to see the U.S. again account for a third of global output, up from about 12% today. Why it matters: Investments made now will take several years to bear fruit, so they won't do much to ease the current semiconductor shortage, but they're vital to America's long-term economic future and national security, Gelsinger told Axios on Monday. Go deeper (2 min. read) Courtenay Brown 2 hours ago - Economy & Business Live events industry eyes pandemic comeback Illustration: Aida Amer/Axios The "live economy" -- broadway shows, concerts, music festivals and more -- is in pandemic purgatory. What's going on: Some events are getting the green light to restart as vaccinations roll out. But operators in states with audience caps are holding back as they contemplate whether it makes financial sense for the show to go on. Go deeper (2 min. read) Hope King 3 hours ago - Economy & Business Ant Group gets new marching orders from regulators in China Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Uncertainty surrounding the future of China's giant fintech company Ant Group cleared up on Monday after years of friction with its domestic regulators. Driving the news: Ant is shedding its cool tech image and stepping into a new identity as a financial holding company -- the result of forced changes by several banking and securities agencies in China. Go deeper (1 min. read) Axios gets you smarter, faster with news & information that matters. 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