The Redmond giant wants to develop its in-house solution and create its own processor aimed at training its AI models.
For the moment, NVIDIA dominates the AI market thanks to the power of its GPUs. A monopoly which would perhaps come to an end if the rumors concerning the development of a processor by Microsoft prove to be real. If this were indeed the case, the company would have to work extra hard to catch up with NVIDIA as it is so far ahead.
A strategic shift for Microsoft
This is according to a report established by The Information that this news is known. During the Ignite 2023 conference (which will take place from November 14 to 17 in Seattle), Microsoft could well reveal its plan to create its own chips dedicated to artificial intelligence. This event is highly anticipated, because it will be an opportunity for the company to reveal all its projects around AI.
For the moment, Microsoft is relying – as is the case for the majority of companies working with AI – on the H100 GPU manufactured by NVIDIA which can be seen in the photo below. It notably powers the data centers supporting the Copilot assistant or the Bing Chat chatbot. Thanks to the high demand for powerful GPUs from tech companies, NVIDIA is now at the top of the market. If Microsoft develops its own solution, it could potentially become more autonomous and no longer dependent on NVIDIA.
Baptized by the code name “Athena”, the development of this processor does not date from yesterday but actually began in 2019. More than 300 people are said to be on the project. It will be interesting to see how this maneuver on Microsoft’s part could impact the market if it succeeds.
Source : Neowin
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