Microsoft said it does not plan to sell the chips but instead will use them to power its own subscription software offerings and as part of its Azure cloud computing service.
Microsoft and other tech giants such as Alphabet are grappling with the high cost of delivering AI services, which can be 10 times greater than for traditional services such as search engines.
The Maia chip, they said, is optimized for that work.
Microsoft also said that next year it will offer its Azure customers cloud services that run on the newest flagship chips from Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Advanced Micro Devices.
He said the Maia chip would allow Microsoft to sell AI services in the cloud until personal computers and phones are powerful enough to handle them.
Persons:
Maia, OpenAI, Scott Guthrie, Ben Bajarin, Bajarin, Microsoft's Guthrie, Guthrie, Rani Borkar, Borkar, Stephen Nellis, Edmund Klamann
Organizations:
Reuters, Microsoft, REUTERS Acquire, Wednesday, Ignite, Nvidia, Devices, Amazon Web Services, Arm Holdings, Amazon, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Thomson
Locations:
Redmond , Washington, Seattle, San Francisco