Microsoft readies own AI chip

Microsoft has been testing its own chips for AI training and could make them available to the company and OpenAI as early as 2024, according to The Information. Microsoft has been quietly developing the chips, code-named Athena, since 2019. A small subset of Microsoft and OpenAI employees have recently been testing the performance of the chips on GPT-4 and other large language models, The Information reported. The Athena chips would help train LLMs and other AI models. Microsoft has not said if it will offer the hardware to its Azure customers in the future. Microsoft may be accelerating the rollout of the AI chips, which could help curb its reliance on outside vendors like Nvidia. While not a direct replacement for Nvidia, Microsoft chips could save it time and money as it  ramps up its efforts to incorporate AI into everything from Bing to  Office apps . Nvidia is currently the chief supplier of AI server chips. Its latest  H100 processors , its most advanced GPUs for AI inference and training, are selling for upwards of  $45,000 on eBay. Google Amazon , and Meta also all have their own AI hardware. THE INFORMATION