Microsoft has created a multimillion-dollar supercomputer for OpenAI

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When Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, it agreed to build a massive, cutting-edge supercomputer for an AI research startup, writes Bloomberg.

Microsoft had to find ways to link together tens of thousands of Nvidia Corp's A100 graphics chips. and change the way servers are placed in racks to prevent power outages. Scott Guthrie, Microsoft's executive vice president of cloud and AI, did not name a specific cost for the project, but said it “probably more” than a few hundred million dollars.

Technology has made it possible OpenAI to release ChatGPT, the hit chatbot that attracted over 1 million users within days of its release in November and is now being used in other companies' business models. As generative AI tools like ChatGPT gain interest from businesses and consumers, cloud service providers like Microsoft, Amazon com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, there will be increasing pressure to ensure that their data centers can provide the massive computing power they need.

Microsoft is now using the same set of resources that it created for OpenAI , to train and run their own large AI models, including the new Bing search bot introduced last month. It also sells this system to other clients. The software giant is already working on the next generation of AI supercomputer as part of an extended deal with OpenAI that saw Microsoft add $10 billion to its investment.

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