Microsoft has indeed developed its own chips called Azure Maia 100 AI Accelerator and Azure Cobalt 100. The Azure Maia 100 AI Accelerator is an ASIC that is optimized for AI tasks, specifically for training large language models and data output within Microsoft Azure. It is designed to support some of the largest internal artificial intelligence systems running within Azure. This chip is specifically tailored for the Azure hardware stack and is not expected to be sold to other companies.
The Azure Maia 100 AI Accelerator is produced using the 5 nm process at TSMC facilities. It will be used in special racks that are designed specifically for this chip and will feature an integrated liquid cooling system.
On the other hand, the Azure Cobalt 100 is a general-purpose processor based on the Arm architecture. It will be used as part of the Microsoft Cloud infrastructure. This processor features 128 Neoverse N2 cores and a 12-channel RAM controller. Like the Maia 100, liquid cooling is also provided for these chips.
It’s interesting to see Microsoft venturing into developing its own chips, as it allows them to have more control over their hardware and optimize it for their specific needs.