International Electronic Business News on the 12th, according to foreign media reports, Microsoft Corp. and speech recognition company Nuance started preliminary acquisition talks. The latter leverages Siri voice-related technology to provide voice recognition and recording tools for doctor visits, customer service calls and voicemails. If talks are successful, Microsoft could announce the deal as soon as Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

The foreign media quoted a person who did not want to be named as saying that the price given by Microsoft could value Nuance at around $56 per share, a 23% premium to Friday’s closing price. At current valuations, Nuance's stake is worth about $16 billion, making the acquisition second only to LinkedIn, which Microsoft bought in 2016 for $27 billion.

For nearly two years, Microsoft has been working with Nuance to develop artificial intelligence software to help clinicians capture patient discussions and integrate them into electronic health records. Microsoft has been trying to get into healthcare, selling more cloud software to hospitals and doctors.

Nuance is the largest company specializing in the development and sales of speech recognition software, image processing software and input method software. The computer speech recognition software Naturally Speaking comes from Nuance. The user speaks into the microphone, and the content of the speech will be displayed on the screen.

As a flagship product, T9 smart text input method supports more than 70 languages, and more than 3 billion mobile devices have built-in T9 input method. This input method is built-in by many OEMs, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Sharp, Haier, Huawei, etc. In recent years, Nuance has shrunk its business scope and spun off peripheral businesses, such as the spin-off of Cerence Inc, its automotive artificial intelligence unit, and Kofax, which sold its imaging unit to thomabravo.

At the same time, Microsoft is also increasingly focusing on healthcare. In May 2020, Microsoft released a suite of industry-specific cloud computing software. Built on top of all of Microsoft's existing cloud services relevant to healthcare industry needs and scenarios, the software addresses key healthcare industry needs, including improved patient communication, enhanced healthcare team collaboration, and improved operational and care data insights , which provides technical support for its healthcare partner ecosystem. In addition, Microsoft has hired executives with medical backgrounds working on machine learning and artificial intelligence tools.