Microsoft chief’s scheduled trip to Bangkok and region next week postponed
Microsoft executive chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has postponed his trip to Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations, the US tech giant announced on Friday.
This will result in the indefinite postponement of the “Microsoft Build: AI Day” event previously scheduled to be held in Bangkok on March 21.
“We are doing our utmost in preparing to reschedule the event and will inform you of the details as soon as possible,” Microsoft Thailand said in a statement released on Friday.
No reason was given as to why the event needed to be pushed back to a later date. And it was unclear on Friday whether the Microsoft chief would still make an appearance on the new date.
Nadella was previously scheduled to visit Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta during his Southeast Asian tour from March 19-21 to attend separate AI Day events.
In Bangkok, the Microsoft chief was also expected to meet with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin. Srettha had met Nadella during his visit to the US to attend the APEC Summit in November.
At the “Microsoft Build: AI Day” event originally planned at Bangkok’s Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, Nadella was expected to give the keynote speech about the new era of artificial intelligence, according to the Microsoft website.
“Nadella will talk about the new era of AI and the opportunity for every organisation in the region to apply advances in technology to shape what comes next for them, for Bangkok, Thailand and for society more broadly,” Microsoft said.
The Indian-born executive last visited Thailand in 2016, when he announced Microsoft’s commitment to support and boost the potential of Thai developers during the “Microsoft Thailand Developer Day” event.
Nadella, 56, succeeded Steve Ballmer as the Microsoft CEO in 2014 and John Thompson as chairman in 2021.
