عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

Report: Microsoft Developing Its Own AI Chip

26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing, in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing, in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
TT
20
TT

Report: Microsoft Developing Its Own AI Chip

26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing, in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing, in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)

Microsoft Corp is developing its own artificial intelligence chip code-named "Athena" that will power the technology behind AI chatbots like ChatGPT, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The company, which was an early backer of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI, has been working on the chip since 2019 and it is being tested by a small group of Microsoft and OpenAI employees, the report said.

According to the report, the chips will be used for training large-language models and supporting inference - both needed by generative AI like the one used in ChatGPT to process massive amounts of data, recognize patterns and create new outputs to mimic human conversation.

Microsoft is hoping the chip will perform better than what it currently buys from other vendors, saving it time and money on its costly AI efforts, the report said. Other big tech companies including Amazon and Google also make their own in-house chips for AI.

So far, chip designer Nvidia dominates the market for such chips.

Microsoft and Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rollout is being accelerated by Microsoft following the success of ChatGPT, the report said. The Windows maker earlier this year launched its own AI-powered search engine, Bing AI, capitalizing on its partnership with OpenAI and trying to grab market share from Google.

Most Viewed

 
Technology

Google Holds Illegal Monopolies in Ad Tech, US Judge Finds, Allowing US to Seek Breakup

A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
TT
20
TT

Google Holds Illegal Monopolies in Ad Tech, US Judge Finds, Allowing US to Seek Breakup

A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)
A man walks past Google's offices in London's Kings Cross area, on Aug. 10, 2024. (AP)

Alphabet's Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, a judge ruled on Thursday, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for US antitrust prosecutors to seek a breakup of its advertising products.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google liable for "willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power" in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Publisher ad servers are platforms used by websites to store and manage their ad inventory.

Antitrust enforcers failed to prove a separate claim that the company had a monopoly in advertiser ad networks, she wrote.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president of Regulatory Affairs, said Google will appeal the ruling.

"We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half," she said, adding that the company disagrees with the decision on its publisher tools. "Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective."

Google's shares were down around 2.1% at midday.

The decision clears the way for another hearing to determine what Google must do to restore competition in those markets, such as sell off parts of its business at another trial that has yet to be scheduled.

The DOJ has said that Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company's publisher ad server and ad exchange.

Google now faces the possibility of two US courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices. A judge in Washington will hold a trial next week on the DOJ's request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.

Google has previously explored selling off its ad exchange to appease European antitrust regulators, Reuters reported in September.

Brinkema oversaw a three-week trial last year on claims brought by the DOJ and a coalition of states.

Google used classic monopoly-building tactics of eliminating competitors through acquisitions, locking customers in to using its products, and controlling how transactions occurred in the online ad market, prosecutors said at trial.

Google argued the case focused on the past, when the company was still working on making its tools able to connect to competitors' products. Prosecutors also ignored competition from technology companies including Amazon.com and Comcast as digital ad spending shifted to apps and streaming video, Google's lawyer said.