Microsoft will continue buying from Nvidia despite custom chip launch
Microsoft deployed its first batch of homegrown Maia 200 AI chips in one data center this week to handle AI inference tasks amid Nvidia supply shortages, with CEO Satya Nadella affirming continued purchases from Nvidia and AMD.
The company plans to roll out additional Maia 200 chips in the coming months. Microsoft describes the Maia 200 as an “AI inference powerhouse.” This design optimizes the chip for the compute-intensive work of running AI models in production environments. Microsoft released processing-speed specifications showing the Maia 200 outperforms Amazon’s latest Trainium chips and Google’s latest Tensor Processing Units, or TPUs.
Cloud giants including Microsoft pursue their own AI chip designs due to the difficulty and expense of obtaining Nvidia’s latest chips. A persistent supply crunch persists without signs of easing. Other providers face similar constraints in acquiring high-performance Nvidia hardware for their data centers.
Nadella emphasized Microsoft’s ongoing reliance on external suppliers despite the in-house development. He stated, “We have a great partnership with Nvidia, with AMD. They are innovating. We are innovating.” Nadella addressed competition in the sector, saying, “I think a lot of folks just talk about who’s ahead. Just remember, you have to be ahead for all time to come.” He clarified the company’s strategy with the remark, “Because we can vertically integrate doesn’t mean we just only vertically integrate,” referring to building systems entirely in-house without external components.
The Maia 200 supports Microsoft’s Superintelligence team, which focuses on developing the company’s frontier AI models. Mustafa Suleyman leads this team. Suleyman previously co-founded Google DeepMind. The team uses the chips to advance Microsoft’s internal AI capabilities.
It's a big day. Our Superintelligence team will be the first to use Maia 200 as we develop our frontier AI models. https://t.co/3Vt38ajobR
— Mustafa Suleyman (@mustafasuleyman) January 26, 2026
Microsoft develops these models to reduce dependence on external providers. The company currently partners with OpenAI and Anthropic, along with other model makers, for advanced AI systems.