Microsoft’s plan to fix its chip problem is, in part, to let OpenAI do the heavy lifting

Microsoft is taking a page from the OpenAI playbook, literally. Bloomberg first reported that the tech giant plans to leverage its partner’s custom chip development to boost its faltering semiconductor efforts, a move that looks increasingly practical given Microsoft’s lackluster performance compared to rivals like Google and Amazon.

The arrangement is straightforward: OpenAI designs the AI ​​chips in collaboration with Broadcom, and Microsoft gets full access to the innovations. “Because they’re innovating even at the system level, we have access to all of that,” CEO Satya Nadella explained in a newly released interview with podcaster Dwarkesh Patel, describing plans to adopt OpenAI designs and then expand them for Microsoft’s own purposes.

Under a revised partnership agreement, Microsoft gets intellectual property rights to OpenAI’s chip designs while maintaining access to the company’s AI models until 2032. The one exception? Consumer OpenAI hardware, which the maker of ChatGPT supposedly wants to develop and sell independently.

This collaboration highlights a broader reality in technology: building cutting-edge AI chips is extremely difficult and expensive. Rather than continue the fight alone, Microsoft is betting that OpenAI’s expertise — plus a smartly structured contract — can accelerate its own ambitions.