Breakthrough at Microsoft in creating chips for artificial intelligence: what is known

Microsoft has unveiled its latest technological marvel, the Maia 100 and Cobalt 100 chips, specifically designed for generative learning in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. This development marks an important step towards reducing dependence on expensive NVIDIA GPUs, potentially changing the AI hardware landscape. SSPDaily has learned more about it.

Azure Cobalt processor

At the heart of this innovation is the Azure Cobalt processor, a powerful 128-core processor based on the Arm Neoverse CSS design. This chip has been carefully designed to integrate seamlessly with a wide range of Azure public cloud services.

Microsoft is currently thoroughly testing Cobalt 100 on various workloads, including the popular Microsoft Teams and SQL Server platforms.

The company has ambitious plans to deploy virtual machines tailored to various workloads next year.

Maia 100 accelerator

Complementing Cobalt is the Maia 100 accelerator, specifically designed to handle cloud-based artificial intelligence workloads covering tasks such as training and processing large language models.

This chip boasts manufacturing excellence, utilizing TSMC's advanced 5nm process and containing a staggering 105 billion transistors.

The Maia 100 is currently undergoing intensive testing, with a focus on the GPT 3.5 Turbo model - the same power that powers ChatGPT, Bing AI, and Microsoft's GitHub Copilot. The full-scale launch of Maia 100 is scheduled for next year, which promises to usher in a new era of AI capabilities.