Microsoft and AMD have reportedly partnered to expand AMD's presence in the AI chip market and compete against top dog Nvidia.
In return, AMD is helping Microsoft to create its own in-house AI chipset, code-named Athena, that would train and run chatbots and other AI models, according to Bloomberg sources.
- During AMD's earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Lisa Su called AI "our number one strategic priority."
- To support AMD's chip development, Microsoft is said to be providing engineering resources, according to the sources.
- However, a Microsoft spokesperson denied AMD's involvement in the project.
- Meanwhile, Microsoft has already been testing its own chips for AI. The Athena chips would power large language models, such as ChatGPT, and others.
- So far, the company has invested $2B into the project. Microsoft has not said if it will offer the hardware to its Azure customers in the future.
- The in-house chips would not fully replace Microsoft's reliance on Nvidia, the top supplier of AI server processors.
- Nvidia's latest H100 processors, its most advanced GPUs for AI inference and training, were selling for upwards of $45,000 on eBay.
- Google, Amazon, and Meta also have their own AI hardware.
