Microsoft donates $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund.

• Microsoft has pledged an additional $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund, following its initial contribution of $500,000 for his first term.
• The company seeks to have Trump oversee favorable AI policy in the next four years.

On Thursday, it was announced that the company was donating $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration fund.

The software maker is now more closely aligned with its highly valued peers in the technology industry, as it was reportedly looking to make a similar contribution to the Trump fund, like Meta did in December.

In December, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced he would contribute $1 million individually, and last week it was reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook would also make a similar contribution.

As he prepares to return to the White House later this month, Elon Musk, CEO and the world's richest person, has been advising Trump.

Microsoft donated $500,000 to both President Trump's and President Biden's inauguration funds, a Microsoft spokesperson informed CNBC.

Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has had several meetings with Trump, including discussions about acquiring TikTok in the U.S. in 2020 and joining a Trump roundtable of technology executives in 2017.

The U.S. under Trump may adopt a favorable direction for artificial intelligence policy, as Microsoft hopes.

In a blog post last week, Microsoft's vice chair and president, Brad Smith, stated that the United States requires a swift and intelligent international strategy to bolster American AI globally.

Microsoft has announced that it will spend at least $53 billion on capital expenditures by the end of 2024.