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Microsoft Unveils AMD-Powered Virtual Machines for AI Workloads in the Cloud

Microsoft said on Thursday it plans to offer its cloud computing customers a platform of AMD artificial intelligence chips that will compete with components made by Nvidia. Details will be given at its Build developer conference next week. At the conference, it will also launch a preview of new Cobalt 100 custom processors.

Microsoft will sell clusters of Advanced Micro Devices' flagship MI300X AI chips through its Azure cloud computing service. They will give customers an alternative to Nvidia's H100 family of powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), which dominate the data center chip market for AI but can be hard to obtain due to high demand.

Microsoft launches AMD processors, expanding its technological offerings. To build AI models or run applications, companies typically must string together—or cluster—multiple GPUs because the data and computation will not fit on a single processor.

AMD, which expects $4 billion in AI chip revenue this year, has said the chips are powerful enough to train and run large AI models. In addition to Nvidia's top-shelf AI chips, Microsoft's cloud computing unit sells access to its in-house AI chips, Maia.

Separately, the Cobalt 100 processors Microsoft plans to preview next week offer 40% better performance over other processors based on Arm Holdings' technology, the company said. Snowflake and others have begun to use them.

The Cobalt chips, which were announced in November, are being tested to power Teams, Microsoft's messaging tool for businesses, and positioned to compete with the in-house Graviton CPUs made by Amazon.com.

Conclusion: Microsoft’s unveiling of AMD-powered VMs for Artificial Intelligence business products is a notable advance in cloud computing. It promises increased productivity, cost efficiencies, and scalability while meeting the evolving needs of businesses and developers.