Microsoft turns to Intel, not Nvidia, to make new chip – Quartz
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Microsoft is tapping semiconductor pioneer Intel in its ambitions to make more chips as it races to develop further AI models. The company plans to use Intel’s 18A manufacturing technology to make a future chip that has been designed in-house, Microsoft and Intel said Wednesday, but didn’t specify what the chip would be used for.
For Intel, partnering with Microsoft — one of Nvidia’s biggest buyers of AI chips — will boost its made-to-order chip business as it competes with other leading chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Nvidia itself.
In a statement shared with Quartz, a company spokesperson said the company is “delighted that Microsoft has selected a chip to design using Intel 18A process technology.”
After the release of ChatGPT swept the globe over a year ago, tech companies, including Microsoft and Google, have scrambled to build their own AI models to compete. The competition has led to high demand for Nvidia’s AI chips, which are used to develop chatbots and other AI tools, and has propelled the company’s profits. However, tech companies are struggling to get enough of the Nvidia’s advanced chips, as supply can’t keep up with demand.
“We need a reliable supply of the most advanced, high-performance, and high-quality semiconductors,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement shared with Bloomberg. “That’s why we are so excited to work with Intel.”
In November, Microsoft said it was rolling out two new chips to its data centers this year. The Azure Maia Accelerator is built for AI applications, while the Azure Cobalt CPU is for general-purpose computing. Microsoft said at the time it was testing its AI products, including Bing and Office AI, with its AI chip.
By partnering with Intel to build chips, Microsoft could see a boost to its chip options, and lead to progress in its development of AI products.
“At the scale we operate, it’s important for us to optimize and integrate every layer of the infrastructure stack to maximize performance, diversify our supply chain and give customers infrastructure choice,” Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and AI, said in a statement previously shared with Quartz.
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