Microsoft building in-house AI chip “Athena”

Microsoft is building its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip for use with language models, according to a report from The Information on April 18.

That report indicates that Microsoft has been developing its in-house chip, which is code-named “Athena,” since at least 2019. The tech giant intends for Athena to perform better and be available to it at a lower cost than externally produced options.

The chips are reportedly available for testing among select employees of Microsoft and OpenAI — the latter of which is the creator of ChatGPT. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, leading to a working relationship between the two firms.

Microsoft has not officially announced the chip. Instead, the Information cites two individuals who are aware of the product as its source.

The Information noted that other Big Tech companies including Amazon, Google, and Facebook already produce their own in-house AI chips.

The news comes shortly after Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk disclosed plans to develop a chatbot called TruthGPT and filed documents to establish a company called X.AI.

Mike Dalton

Journalist at CryptoSlate

Mike trained in library and information sciences before moving into crypto writing in 2018. He lives on the West Coast of Canada.