Microsoft could unveil Maia 300 AI chip as early as September: Report

Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 artificial intelligence chip this autumn, possibly as early as September, Reuters reported on Monday, citing The Information, which quoted people familiar with the plans.

The company unveiled its first Maia chip in November 2023 but has trailed Alphabet and Amazon in expanding its in-house semiconductor programme as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s expensive processors.

Microsoft is in talks with TSMC to secure production capacity for more than 300,000 Maia chips for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It also plans to scale up output significantly and attract major cloud customers such as Anthropic.


Microsoft eventually aims to secure capacity for more than one million Maia 300 chips. However, component shortages and continuing negotiations with TSMC could constrain production, the report said.

“Microsoft continues to invest in custom silicon as part of our long-term AI infrastructure strategy. While we don’t share production volumes, the figures reported don’t reflect the scale of our programme,” Andrew Wall, general manager for Microsoft’s Azure Maia, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Microsoft unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 chip in January. Manufactured by TSMC using 3-nanometre technology, the chip contains a large amount of SRAM designed to accelerate AI systems that process high volumes of user requests.

Google began generating revenue from direct sales of its custom Tensor Processing Units in the June quarter while Amazon has reported growing demand for its in-house chips, including Trainium.

Microsoft shares rose 1.14%, or $5.69, to $505.68 on Monday. The stock opened at $503.44 and traded between $502.27 and $513.73, compared with its previous close of $499.99.