tech
Anthropic, Microsoft in talks for AI chip deal after $5 billion investment
Microsoft has not made the Maia 200 chips available to customers, but they are used in the company's data centers, offering better efficiency than other silicon.
TL;DR
- Microsoft is in talks to supply its custom AI chips to Anthropic.
- This deal would help Microsoft compete with cloud rivals Amazon and Google in providing specialized AI silicon.
- Microsoft's second-generation Maia AI chip, announced in January, is expected to run OpenAI's GPT-5.2 model.
- Anthropic has previously invested $5 billion in Microsoft and committed $30 billion to Azure cloud services.
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei mentioned the company has had 'difficulties with compute'.
- Anthropic has a $1.25 billion per month deal through May 2029 for computing power with SpaceX.
- Anthropic has existing agreements with Amazon Web Services for custom Trainium chips and Google for tensor processing unit chips.
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated the Maia 200 chip offers over 30% improved tokens per dollar compared to current fleet silicon.