Recent reports show that Microsoft plans to conduct large-scale AI chip purchases in 2024, targeting Nvidia's most advanced B100 chip. Previously, Microsoft had placed an order for 150,000 Nvidia H100 chips, but given that the computing power of the B100 is expected to be more than twice that of the H100, Microsoft has decided to shift some of its H100 orders to this new chip.
Microsoft's decision has attracted a lot of attention in the industry, especially in the fierce competition in the field of large models, computing power has become a key factor for enterprises to compete for market share. In order to maintain its leading position in the field of AI computing, Microsoft has locked in Nvidia's upcoming B100 chip in advance, and plans to start delivering it in the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to Omdia's latest report, Microsoft originally planned to purchase 150,000 H100 GPUs in 2023, a figure that has already exceeded the purchase volume of some heavyweights such as Google, Amazon, Oracle, and Tencent. However, with the favor of the B100 chip, Microsoft plans to reduce the number of its original H100 orders from 120,000 to 80,000 and put the transferred orders into the upcoming B100 chip.
Although the detailed architecture and design details of the B100 are still limited at this time, according to NVIDIA's product roadmap, the chip will be designed with higher capacity memory to improve data throughput. The Morgan Stanley report highlights the B100's computing power, which is expected to be at least twice as powerful as the H100, making it a very attractive option, albeit relatively high, expected to be 50% to 60% higher.
Relevant industry analysts believe that Microsoft's move shows its positive attitude in competing for computing power advantages in the AI field. Under the current trend of expanding the application of AI large models, the improvement of computing performance is directly related to the quality of products and services. Therefore, Microsoft's large-scale purchase of B100 chips can be seen as a strategic decision it made to compete for market share.
It is worth mentioning that Microsoft is not limited to Nvidia's products, starting in the second quarter of 2024, they also plan to diversify their GPU purchases, including AMD Mi300X orders. Kevin Scott, Microsoft's chief technology officer, has previously said that AMD's high-end AI GPUs will occupy a significant position in the market in the coming years.
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