New report claims Microsoft and AMD are teamng up to make AI processors

In April, an unconfirmed report from The Information claimed that Microsoft was developing an in-house processor made specifically for powering generative AI servers, with the code name Athena. Now a new report from another media outlet claims Microsoft is teaming up with AMD to develop an AI chip.

The report from Bloomberg, using unnamed sources, claims Microsoft is giving financial support for AMD to enter the AI chip market. In turn, AMD is reportedly assisting Microsoft in the making of the in-house Athena AI processor, which reportedly already has several hundred people working on the chip. Neither AMD nor Microsoft have confirmed these reports.

If accurate, it would seem like AMD is trying to go after the AI market share that’s currently dominated by rival NVIDIA, with processors like the H100 inside the servers that power Microsoft’s Bing Chat and other AI services. Microsoft would also seem to want to make its own AI chips, so it wouldn’t be dependent on NVIDIA’s solutions.

Of course, Microsoft and AMD are old buddies when it comes to hardware partnerships. Custom AMD chips have been inside the Xbox One, the Xbox Series S, and the Xbox Series X consoles.