Microsoft and AI

From Ben’s Bites April 1, 2024

Microsoft and OpenAI are secretly plotting one of the most ambitious computing projects ever conceived—a $100 billion AI supercomputer called “Stargate”.

The proposed Stargate supercomputer could cost over $100 billion and require 5 gigawatts of power by 2030—the equivalent of several large data centres. It’s part of a 5-phase plan, with Stargate as the final phase 5.

In the near term, Microsoft is working on a $10 billion “phase 4” supercomputer for OpenAI using Nvidia AI chips, targeted for the 2026 launch. We’re currently in phase 3, with Microsoft providing hundreds of thousands of GPUs to OpenAI this year and next.

The total multi-phase plan could exceed $115 billion in costs for Microsoft - over 3x of their capital expenditure last year. Key goals are packing way more GPUs per server rack and using non-Nvidia networking tech like Ethernet instead of InfiniBand.

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