Microsoft Eyes Anthropic Deal to Expand AI Chip Reach

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Microsoft (MSFT, Financials) is in talks to supply its custom artificial intelligence chips to Anthropic, a potential win as the software giant tries to catch up with Amazon and Google in AI silicon.

The discussions center on Microsoft's Maia chip, which the company announced in January but has not yet made available to Azure customers. A deal has not been signed, CNBC reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The talks come after Microsoft said in November it would invest $5 billion in Anthropic. As part of that relationship, Anthropic committed to spending $30 billion on Microsoft Azure, while also continuing to use cloud services from Amazon and Google.

For Anthropic, the need is clear. CEO Dario Amodei recently said the company has faced compute challenges as demand grows for its Claude assistant and Claude Code programming tool. The company has also secured long-term access to chips and cloud capacity from Amazon, Google and SpaceX.

For Microsoft, landing Anthropic as a Maia customer would help validate its custom chip strategy and reduce reliance on Nvidia hardware over time. CEO Satya Nadella has said Maia 200 offers more than 30% better tokens per dollar compared with current silicon in Microsoft's fleet.

The next catalyst will be whether Microsoft and Anthropic finalize a chip agreement and whether Maia becomes available more broadly through Azure.