Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) next-gen AI chip, Braga (aka Maia 200), faces at least a six-month delaypushing mass production into 2026 and risking a performance gap versus Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Blackwell silicon.
The Information reports design overhauls, staffing crunches, and turnover have set back Braga until 2026, rather than the planned 2025 rollout. Originally unveiled as part of Microsoft’s Maia family (Maia 100 launched in late 2023), Braga was supposed to power Azure and OpenAI workloads.Now, by the time it reaches scale, Nvidia’s late-2024 Blackwell chips will already be in data centers worldwide.
Major cloud playersAmazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Trainium 3), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (TPU Ironwood), and Microsoftare racing to reduce reliance on Nvidia . A late or subpar Microsoft chip could leave Azure customers dependent on NVDA longer, weakening MSFT’s negotiating leverage and fanning concerns about AI cost curves.
Microsoft still plans two more successorsBraga-R (2026) and Clea/Maia 300 (2027)but Braga’s slip raises questions about hitting those targets. Watch for official updates on Braga’s specs and revised timelines, as well as how rivals Amazon and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) fare with their in-house silicon.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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