Microsoft orders 300,000+ Maia 300 AI chips from TSMC to cut Nvidia reliance

Microsoft is ordering 300,000+ Maia 300 AI chips from TSMC as it races to reduce its dependence on Nvidia

Microsoft in talks with TSMC for 300,000+ Maia 300 chips for 2027. Maia 300 unveil this fall. Follows Maia 200 launch in January. Ultimate goal: gigawatts of capacity. Anthropic alone uses 1M Amazon and Google chips. Microsoft's custom silicon is behind rivals. Microsoft is planning to "significantly" increase production of its next-generation AI chips, The Information reported. The company has been in discussions with TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 Maia 300 chips for delivery in 2027. Microsoft plans to unveil Maia 300 this fall, and a company manager said the ultimate goal is to produce "gigawatts' worth" of Maia chips. The scale of that ambition puts Microsoft on a path to build its own AI compute layer rather than buying everything from Nvidia. The urgency is real. Anthropic is building its own chip team and has deals to use one million Amazon Trainium chips and Google TPUs. Microsoft's custom chip programme started years after Amazon and Google began designing their own, and the Maia line is widely seen as less mature than its rivals' hardware. Maia 200, the second-generation accelerator, only started rolling out in January. The 300,000-unit order for Maia 300 is Microsoft's attempt to close that gap before its cloud customers start choosing Amazon or Google specifically because of their custom silicon. All three cloud giants are chasing the same prize: AI accelerators that cost less and run more efficiently than Nvidia's GPUs. Nvidia's chips remain the industry standard, but their high prices and chronic short supply have turned custom silicon from a nice-to-have into a strategic necessity. Microsoft recently told employees to stop "tokenmaxxing" and set division-level AI budgets, a sign that compute costs are becoming a constraint even at the company spending $35.8 billion per quarter on infrastructure. The challenge is execution. TSMC's advanced packaging capacity is tight through 2027, and Microsoft needs to persuade enterprise customers that Maia can match or beat Nvidia on the workloads that matter. The longer-term ambition is capacity for more than one million units, but component supplies could constrain that target. For now, 300,000 chips is a bet that Microsoft's custom silicon will be ready for production scale by 2027. If it works, Azure gets a cost advantage over Nvidia-dependent competitors. If it does not, Microsoft will have spent billions on a chip programme that is still a generation behind.

Microsoft to unveil Maia 300 AI chip this fall, targets 300,000 units

Microsoft $MSFT is planning to unveil its next-generation Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as September, according to Reuters, citing a report from The Information. Microsoft is negotiating with TSMC $TSM over production capacity to manufacture upward of 300,000 Maia 300 chips, targeting delivery sometime in 2027. Reuters also notes that Microsoft is eyeing eventual production of over one million units, a figure that may prove difficult to hit given parts availability and where talks with TSMC currently stand. Andrew Wall, general manager for Microsoft's Azure Maia, said in a statement that Microsoft "continues to invest in custom silicon as part of our long-term AI infrastructure strategy," adding that the production figures reported "don't reflect the scale of our program." TSMC did not respond to requests for comment. Microsoft introduced its first Maia AI chip in November 2023; the follow-on Maia 200, which arrived in January, relies on TSMC's 3-nanometer process and incorporates substantial SRAM -- a memory technology that gives AI systems a throughput edge when fielding heavy user traffic. Microsoft has fallen behind Alphabet $GOOGL and Amazon $AMZN in building out a homegrown chip operation. Google has started booking revenue from Tensor Processing Unit sales -- a milestone reached in the quarter that closed in June -- and Amazon's Trainium chips have been gaining traction with customers. Microsoft has been working to place Maia chips with major cloud customers. The company was in early talks to supply its Maia 200 chips to Anthropic for use in the AI startup's Claude models, though no deal had been finalized at that time. Anthropic has been building out its compute partnerships broadly -- it agreed to use Amazon Web Services' Trainium chips in a 10-year arrangement and announced plans to use Google's tensor processing units. The urgency behind Microsoft's push reflects broader competitive pressure. The competitive dynamic pushing Microsoft forward is shared across the industry: Google and Amazon are similarly racing to field proprietary AI accelerators that undercut Nvidia $NVDA on both price and power efficiency, even as Nvidia's hardware continues to set the benchmark and remains difficult to procure in sufficient volumes.

Microsoft could unveil Maia 300 AI chip as early as September: Report

Microsoft plans to launch its new Maia 300 AI chip this autumn. The company is securing production capacity for over 300,000 chips by 2027. This move aims to reduce reliance on Nvidia's expensive processors. Microsoft also seeks to attract major cloud customers like Anthropic. The tech giant eventually targets over one million Maia 300 chips. Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 artificial intelligence chip this autumn, possibly as early as September, Reuters reported on Monday, citing The Information, which quoted people familiar with the plans. The company unveiled its first Maia chip in November 2023 but has trailed Alphabet and Amazon in expanding its in-house semiconductor programme as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia's expensive processors. US MarketsPowered By As on 11 Aug 2026, 01:01 AM IST S&P 500 Top Gainers Datadog259.06(10.74%) APA40.91(8.70%) Akamai Technologies118.00(6.75%) Marathon Petroleum317.93(6.62%) Gainers" S&P 500 Top Losers Coterra Energy32.56(-8.62%) Verisk Analytics178.95(-6.71%) Trade Desk13.13(-4.89%) First Solar239.13(-4.37%) Losers" Microsoft is in talks with TSMC to secure production capacity for more than 300,000 Maia chips for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It also plans to scale up output significantly and attract major cloud customers such as Anthropic. Microsoft eventually aims to secure capacity for more than one million Maia 300 chips. However, component shortages and continuing negotiations with TSMC could constrain production, the report said. "Microsoft continues to invest in custom silicon as part of our long-term AI infrastructure strategy. While we don't share production volumes, the figures reported don't reflect the scale of our programme," Andrew Wall, general manager for Microsoft's Azure Maia, was quoted as saying by Reuters. Microsoft unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 chip in January. Manufactured by TSMC using 3-nanometre technology, the chip contains a large amount of SRAM designed to accelerate AI systems that process high volumes of user requests. Google began generating revenue from direct sales of its custom Tensor Processing Units in the June quarter while Amazon has reported growing demand for its in-house chips, including Trainium. Microsoft shares rose 1.14%, or $5.69, to $505.68 on Monday. The stock opened at $503.44 and traded between $502.27 and $513.73, compared with its previous close of $499.99.

Microsoft Stock Rises 2%: Upcoming Maia 300 Chip Launch Targets Reduced Nvidia Reliance - Microsoft (NASD

The big tech giant is moving to unlock more value from its cloud and AI infrastructure business by scaling its in-house Maia chip program and reducing dependence on costly Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) processors. Microsoft Plans Maia 300 Launch Microsoft plans to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans. Custom Chips Could Reduce NVIDIA Reliance Microsoft introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 and rolled out its second-generation Maia 200 in January. The Maia 200, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology, includes a significant amount of SRAM, which can give AI systems speed advantages when handling large volumes of user requests. Microsoft is now looking to ramp production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt Maia. The push comes as cloud providers seek alternatives to Nvidia's expensive processors and look for more cost-efficient computing options inside their data centers. The Chart Is Extended Microsoft is trading 18.6% above its 20-day SMA ($429.77) and 17.7% above its 200-day SMA ($433.04), a sign the current run has gotten stretched versus its longer-term trend. That extension matters because it can keep momentum traders engaged, but it also raises the odds of sharper pullbacks if buyers pause. Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price forecast of $552.40. Recent analyst moves include: * Tigress Financial: Buy (Raises Forecast to $690.00) (Aug. 5) * Bernstein: Outperform (Raises Forecast to $647.00) (July 30) * Citigroup: Buy (Raises Forecast to $600.00) (July 30) Top ETF Exposure Significance: Because MSFT carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows for these ETFs will likely force automatic buying or selling of the stock. Price Action MSFT Stock Price Activity: Microsoft shares were up 1.67% at $508.34 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Nvidia's biggest risk may be coming from inside its customer base

Nvidia (NVDA) sold its most valuable chips to the world's biggest tech businesses in the AI boom. What is disconcerting is that some of those same consumers now are paying big to establish alternatives. Microsoft (MSFT) might be poised to demonstrate just how serious that threat has gotten. The company plans to unveil its next-generation Maia 300 AI accelerator this fall, potentially as soon as September, according to The Information, as Microsoft pushes to reduce its reliance on Nvidia's expensive processors. Reuters reported that Microsoft has discussed manufacturing capacity with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) for more than 300,000 Maia 300 chips for delivery in 2027. Longer term, Microsoft reportedly wants capacity for more than 1 million units. Microsoft disputed the claimed production numbers, saying they don't reflect the breadth of the company's effort but underlined bespoke silicon is a key part of its long-term AI infrastructure strategy. Microsoft says its current Maia 200 accelerator delivers more than 30% better performance per dollar than the latest-generation hardware previously deployed in its fleet. That distinction is important. Microsoft doesn't need Maia to replace Nvidia everywhere. It just needs its own chips to be good enough, cheap enough, and plentiful enough to transfer a meaningful share of Azure's AI workloads away from outside providers. That may be the larger threat for Nvidia investors. Its biggest clients don't need to quit buying Nvidia chips. They merely need to start needing fewer of them. Microsoft wants to change the economics of its AI spending Microsoft's bet on bespoke chips starts with a simple problem. Artificial intelligence is costly. With increased demand for Copilot, Azure AI services, or third-party models, Microsoft needs additional computer power to run such products. Much of that capability has involved purchasing accelerators from firms such as Nvidia. That deal has helped make Nvidia one of the greatest winners of the AI boom. Microsoft also had a strong incentive to build more of the silicon itself. Maia was first introduced by the firm in 2023, followed by the second-generation Maia 200 accelerator in January 2026. Maia 200 is designed for inference, applying trained AI models to respond to cues and complete tasks, not training models. The Maia 200 is built on TSMC's 3-nanometer technology, has over 140 billion transistors, and delivers over 10 petaFLOPS of FP4 performance, says Microsoft. More important to shareholders, Microsoft believes it offers about 30% greater performance per dollar than the latest generation of hardware it has previously deployed in its fleet. That's the number investors need to watch. At Microsoft's scale, even small savings in the cost of processing AI requests can lead to significant savings. Microsoft data centers in Iowa and Arizona are already running Maia 200. During its fiscal third-quarter results call, Microsoft claimed millions of servers throughout its fleet now employ its own networking, security, and virtualization silicon, in addition to its first-party CPUs and accelerators. Maia 300 would take that strategy considerably further. If Microsoft is going to deploy hundreds of thousands of its own AI accelerators, custom silicon is less of a side project. It's becoming part of the economics of Azure. Anthropic could give Maia 300 the validation Microsoft needs The next stage is more difficult. Designing an AI chip for Microsoft's internal workloads is one thing. Convincing major cloud customers to use it is another. .Microsoft is encouraging customers like Anthropic to use Maia 300. That might be a big point of validation. If Anthropic or another frontier AI startup picks Maia for substantial workloads, Microsoft would have evidence that its custom accelerator is competitive, not only within its own infrastructure but also as a product in Azure's broader cloud ecosystem. And that's where the question of Nvidia gets more fascinating. Microsoft is already trailing two competitors in the race. Alphabet has spent years building Tensor Processing Units; Amazon has developed its Trainium family of AI accelerators. Amazon's Trainium is gaining traction, and Google has started booking income from direct sales of its custom AI chips. Microsoft has had delays on its other bespoke chip projects, too. A previous next-generation Maia project in 2025 had slipped at least six months because of design changes and staffing issues. That is a history worth remembering. Maia 300 will not guarantee success just because Microsoft plans to make it in volume. But the reported production aspirations reflect just how much more serious the project has grown. Bloomberg / Getty Images Nvidia's customers are becoming a new class of competitors The obvious temptation is to call the Maia 300 a "Nvidia killer." That would be overkill. Nvidia has so much more than the GPU in competitive edge. Its CUDA software ecosystem, networking solutions, developer partnerships, and huge installed base make it hard for rivals to displace it. Microsoft keeps using hardware from Nvidia and AMD, as well as its own first-party silicon. In its business results call for the fiscal third quarter, the company described its AI infrastructure strategy as a blend of bespoke silicon and accelerators from third-party providers. The latter is the incremental threat, not an existential one. Microsoft doesn't need to kick Nvidia out of Azure. Maia has to accomplish enough inference, synthetic data creation, or other tasks to enhance the economics of Azure and lower the number of outside accelerators needed per dollar of AI revenue. Google can do the same with TPUs. Amazon can do it with Trainium. If all three succeed, Nvidia faces an unusual situation. Its largest customers remain among its largest sources of demand. They are simultaneously designing technology intended to reduce that dependence. What Nvidia investors should watch * September:Maia 300 could be unveiled as soon as next month. * 300,000+:Reported manufacturing capacity Microsoft has discussed with TSMC for 2027. * 1 million+:Microsoft's reported longer-term capacity ambition. * 30%+: Microsoft's claimed Maia 200 performance-per-dollar improvement over the latest generation previously in its fleet. * Anthropic: A major Azure customer Microsoft reportedly hopes to persuade to use Maia 300. * TSMC: The manufacturer Microsoft is reportedly negotiating with for significantly greater capacity. Microsoft has a lot to prove after all. The corporation disputes the quoted output figures. Microsoft custom-chip development hasn't always gone as planned in the past Component supply and TSMC capacity could limit deployment But the strategic orientation is not hard to see. The world's biggest cloud providers are gradually looking to control more of the silicon beneath artificial intelligence. For Microsoft, success might imply cheaper inference costs, higher margins for Azure, and more control over restricted compute capacity. The matter is more delicate for Nvidia. It does not have to lose Microsoft as a customer for Maia 300 to matter. All Microsoft has to do is shift enough workloads onto its own hardware to modify the number of Nvidia chips needed for every dollar of AI growth. That's why the next AI-chip conflict may look so different from the previous. Perhaps the most threatening competitors for Nvidia are not other chipmakers. They might be the clients who made Nvidia a powerhouse. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc. This story was originally published August 12, 2026 at 7:37 PM.

Microsoft reportedly preparing to launch its Maia 300 chip as soon as September

Microsoft plans to publicly unveil its new Maia 300 artificial intelligence chip this fall, potentially as early as September, according to The Information. This next generation is expected to help the company speed up development of its own AI processors and reduce its reliance on Nvidia's expensive chips, after a slower rollout than some rivals since the first Maia was introduced in November 2023. The group is also said to be in talks with TSMC to reserve manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 Maia 300 chips, with deliveries scheduled for 2027. This ramp-up is intended to allow Microsoft to significantly increase output of its in-house processors and strengthen control over its infrastructure dedicated to artificial intelligence. Microsoft is also reportedly seeking to persuade major customers of its cloud services to use Maia 300, including Anthropic. The chip's development is part of a broader strategy aimed at offering a more integrated AI infrastructure, while keeping a lid on the costs tied to the rapid expansion of computing capacity.

Microsoft plans to unveil new Maia 300 AI chip in September, The Information reports

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Microsoft is planning to publicly unveil its new Maia 300 chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans. Microsoft introduced the Maia chip in November 2023 but has lagged its peers in ramping it up to scale as it looks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia's costly processors. The company has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chips for delivery in 2027, according to the report. Microsoft is looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip, the report said. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TSMC could not be reached for comment outside regular business hours. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Pooja Desai)