BERLIN, April 24 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence companies ‌Cohere of Canada ‌and Aleph Alpha of Germany ​have agreed to merge, newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Friday.

Citing government ‌and ⁠industry sources, the paper said the ⁠combined company was intended as an ​alternative to ​U.S. ​technology companies, providing ‌digital public-sector services to businesses and public authorities.

The deal is to be announced at ‌11 a.m. (0900 ​GMT) in ​Berlin, ​with Digital ‌Minister Karsten Wildberger and ​his ​Canadian counterpart Evan Solomon in attendance, ​the ‌report said.

(Writing by Friederike ​Heine; Editing by ​Tom Hogue)