Microsoft Is Helping Finance AMD’s Expansion Into AI Chips
Microsoft Corp. is working with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on the chipmaker's expansion into artificial intelligence processors, according to people with knowledge of the situation, part of a multipronged strategy to secure more of the highly coveted components.
The companies are teaming up to offer an alternative to Nvidia Corp., which dominates the market for AI-capable chips called graphics processing units, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The software giant is providing financial support to bolster AMD's efforts, and working with the chipmaker on a homegrown Microsoft processor for AI workloads, code-named Athena.
AMD shares jumped more than 6.5% on Thursday, and Microsoft gained about 1%. Representatives from both companies declined to comment. Nvidia stock declined 1.9%.
The arrangement is part of a broader rush to augment AI processing power, which is in great demand after the explosion of chatbots like ChatGPT and other services based on the technology. Microsoft is both a top provider of cloud-computing services and a driving force of AI use. The company has pumped $10 billion into ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and has vowed to add such features to its entire software lineup.
The move also reflects Microsoft's deepening involvement in the chip industry. The company has been building up a silicon division over the past several years under former Intel Corp. executive Rani Borkar, and the group now has a staff of almost 1,000 employees. The Information last month reported on Microsoft's development of the Athena artificial-intelligence chip.
Several hundred of those employees are working on the Athena project, and Microsoft has spent about $2 billion on its chip efforts,
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