Microsoft Emphasizes Importance of GPU Supply for AI

Microsoft has told investors that the supply of graphics processing units (GPUs) is a key resource — and risk factor — for the company’s growing cloud business.

The tech giant included three passages about the GPUs needed for its data centers in its annual report for the 2023 fiscal year, emphasizing the importance of having access to this hardware, CNBC reported Friday (July 28). In the previous year’s report, Microsoft didn’t mention GPUs at all.

“We continue to identify and evaluate opportunities to expand our data center locations and increase our server capacity to meet the evolving needs of our customers, particularly given the growing demand for AI services,” Microsoft said in its annual report. “Our data centers depend on the availability of permitted and buildable land, predictable energy, networking supplies and servers, including graphics processing units … and other components.”

Microsoft is taking its cloud business to the next level by relying heavily on GPUs to provide the hardware necessary for advanced artificial intelligence (AI), according to the CNBC report.

The company’s partnership with OpenAI provides it with access to ChatGPT and AI models to improve existing products, such as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word, the report said.

In order to secure enough GPU capacity, Microsoft has signed an agreement with CoreWeave, a company backed by Nvidia, per the report. Going forward, the company plans to increase its capital expenditures to pay for the necessary data centers, central processing units, networking hardware and GPUs.

“Our increasing user traffic, growth in services, and the complexity of our products and services demand more computing power,” Microsoft said in its annual report. “We spend substantial amounts to build, purchase or lease data centers and equipment and to upgrade our technology and network infrastructure to handle more traffic on our websites and in our data centers.”

It was reported July 2 that the demand for the capabilities of GPUs is such that cryptocurrency miners are retooling their crypto mining rigs to be used for AI applications.

The GPUs used in crypto mining rigs are useful not only for the elaborate calculations used to create units of cryptocurrency but also for the computational workloads needed to train generative AI systems.