Microsoft is gearing up to introduce its inaugural artificial intelligence (AI) chip during its upcoming annual developers' conference, 'Ignite,' scheduled for next month. The chip, codenamed Athena, is anticipated to be designed for data center servers, mirroring the capabilities of Nvidia GPUs.
This move by Microsoft is seen as a strategic step to reduce its reliance on Nvidia-designed AI chips, which have faced scarcity due to surging demand. Currently, Microsoft employs Nvidia GPUs in its data center servers to power advanced language models (LLMs) for cloud clients, including OpenAI and Intuit, along with integrating AI features into Microsoft's productivity applications.
OpenAI, supported by Microsoft, has also expressed interest in developing its own AI chips and has explored acquisition opportunities for this purpose. OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, has been vocal about the challenges posed by limited availability and high costs of the necessary hardware to fuel OpenAI's software development. This move by Microsoft signifies a broader trend in the tech industry towards developing proprietary AI hardware to meet growing demand and reduce dependency on external chip providers.
