Microsoft developing its own AI chip

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-developing-its-own-ai-chip-information-2023-04-18/
April 18 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is developing its own
artificial intelligence chip code-named "Athena" that will power the
technology behind AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the Information reported
on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The company, which was an early backer of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI,

has been working on the chip since 2019 and it is being tested by a
small group of Microsoft and OpenAI employees, the report said.

According to the report, the chips will be used for training large-
language models and supporting inference - both needed by
generative AI like the one used in ChatGPT to process massive amounts
of data, recognize patterns and create new outputs to mimic human
conversation.

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Microsoft is hoping the chip will perform better than what it currently
buys from other vendors, saving it time and money on its costly AI
efforts, the report said. Other big tech companies including Amazon
and Google also make their own in-house chips for AI.
So far, chip designer Nvidia (NVDA.O) dominates the market for such
chips.
Microsoft and Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
The rollout is being accelerated by Microsoft following the success of
ChatGPT, the report said. The Windows maker earlier this year
launched its own AI-powered search engine, Bing AI, capitalizing on
its partnership with OpenAI and trying to grab market share from
Google.