Microsoft develops AI server gear to lessen reliance on Nvidia

Microsoft is developing a new network card that could improve the performance of its Maia AI server chip and potentially reduce its reliance on chip designer Nvidia, according to a report in the Information on Tuesday.

The new network card is similar to Nvidia's Connect X-7 card, which the chip developer sells alongside its graphic processor units (GPUs), the report added. The equipment could take more than a year to develop and, if successful, could lessen the time it takes for OpenAI to train its models on Microsoft servers as well as make the process less expensive, according to the report.