Microsoft's AI chip project seems to be facing massive setbacks, as the company has pushed production into 2026, and initial performance doesn't look too promising.
Microsoft's "Braga" AI Chip, Which Is Set To Now Produce by 2026, Won't Even Outperform NVIDIA's Blackwell
With NVIDIA's growing influence over the AI markets, Big Tech decided to have its own venture in the chip business by creating custom silicon. Microsoft was one of the primary companies in the race to develop its own AI chips, followed by the likes of Google and Amazon. However, despite pouring in vast financial and technical resources, Big Tech still hasn't managed to crack the "AI chip" code. Now, according to a report by The Information, it is claimed that Microsoft's AI chip project is now delayed by up to six months. The initial performance evaluation reports don't look very competitive.
Microsoft's chip venture, codenamed "Braga", is claimed to now go under mass production by 2026, which marks a delay of six years. Moreover, it is argued that the chip's performance is lower than NVIDIA's Blackwell architecture, which was released back in 2024, so in terms of competing with Team Green, Microsoft's chip isn't expected to catch up. It is revealed that the massive R&D costs and chip design revisions have forced Microsoft to push the production timeline ahead.
The primary reason why Big Tech resorted to creating its own AI chips was to reduce dependency on NVIDIA's hardware, mainly due to how in-demand it is. Apart from Microsoft, companies like Google and Amazon have been using in-house AI chips in data centers, but NVIDIA's AI chips retain their superiority on a larger scale. NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, has acknowledged the competition the firm faces from custom chips, but he has also said that why bother creating custom chips if NVIDIA does it better?
Microsoft's AI projects have been scaled down massively since their inception, given that the "AI hype" has decreased to where it was a few months ago. It would be interesting to see how Microsoft manages to pull off the chip project, since it faces roadblocks for now.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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