Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, possibly as early as next month. The Information reported the development, citing people familiar with the company’s plans.
Microsoft introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023, but it has fallen behind companies such as Alphabet and Amazon in increasing production as it works to reduce its dependence on Nvidia. According to the report, Microsoft has been negotiating with chipmaker TSMC to secure production capacity for more than 300,000 Maia 300 chips for delivery in 2027.
The company also wants to significantly increase production and persuade major cloud customers, including Anthropic, to use its chips.
Microsoft’s long-term goal is to secure production capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips. However, supply issues and ongoing negotiations with TSMC could limit the company’s plans, according to the report.
Microsoft launched its second-generation Maia 200 chip in January. The chip is manufactured by TSMC using its 3-nanometer process.
Microsoft has also been discussing the possibility of supplying its custom AI chips to Anthropic. A deal with the company could be a significant win for Microsoft.
Although Microsoft announced its second-generation Maia AI chip in January, it has not yet made the chip available through its Azure cloud platform. The company said the Maia 200 processor would run OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 model.
Anthropic has not finalized a deal with Microsoft to use Maia chips, according to the reports. The AI company has historically depended heavily on Nvidia graphics processing units to train and run its generative AI models.
In April, Anthropic announced that it would use Amazon Web Services’ custom Trainium chips under a 10-year agreement worth more than $100 billion. The company also announced plans in October to use Google’s Tensor Processing Unit chips.
Early reviews of the Maia 300 suggest that the chip could deliver more than a 30% improvement in token-per-dollar efficiency compared with the latest chips in Microsoft’s fleet.
