Microsoft to Announce Cloud Technology and Open Cobalt100 Chip Usage at Build Conference

Microsoft is expected to announce multiple cloud software and hardware technologies at the Build conference next week, and will also open up the use of its self-developed AI chip Cobalt100 to Azure users.

As reported by TechCrunch, Microsoft officially announced its self-developed chip plan at the Ignite conference in November 2023. The chips mainly include the Arm architecture chip 'Microsoft Azure Cobalt100' for general computing tasks in Azure cloud, and the Microsoft Azure Maia100 AI acceleration chip designed for AI.

Microsoft emphasized the 'Cobalt100' chip, which is a 128-core 64-bit AI processor optimized for general workloads, with 'low power consumption' and 'high efficiency', claiming a 40% performance improvement over previous Arm chips used by Azure.

Microsoft executive Scott Guthrie has reportedly praised the 'Cobalt100' chip as the 'Microsoft version' of Amazon's Graviton chip, and the company plans to allow Azure customers to try out the Cobalt100 chip in a 'preview' at the Build conference next week.

In addition to Cobalt100, Microsoft will also announce Azure services based on the AMD MI300X GPU next week, which is touted as the 'most cost-effective hardware' in the AzureOpenAI service.

Microsoft will also introduce a 'real-time intelligent analytics system', a real-time data analytics system that allows users to import a large amount of data for instant analysis. The system will natively support data analytics platforms such as Kafka, Amazon AWS Kinesis, and Google Cloud.

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Microsoft unveils self-developed AI chips Azure Maia100 and Cobalt100 for enhancing Azure AI services