The annual Microsoft Technology Festival has arrived. At 8am Pacific time on November 15th, the Microsoft Ignite Global Technology Conference will be held in the United States.
Microsoft Ignite is a technical conference hosted by Microsoft for IT decision-makers, IT professionals, and enterprise developers. The focus of this conference will be on the hottest AI technology and related applications currently available.
Based on official Microsoft and multiple media releases, Microsoft will bring a series of content at this conference, including the latest developments in Microsoft 365 Copilot, Security Copilot demos, and Azure's latest feature demonstrations. It is also worth noting that Microsoft's self-developed artificial intelligence chip, codenamed Athena, is expected to be released at this conference.
In terms of AI technology and applications, specifically including:
Microsoft 365: Experts from all parties will provide interpretation and analysis on the Microsoft 365 toolkit. Microsoft will also introduce how to build plugins for Microsoft Copilot, as well as new features for Microsoft 365 administrators.
Business Transformation: Microsoft executives and partners will introduce how to use artificial intelligence technology to improve productivity, optimize business costs, and more.
The latest features of Azure: The conference agenda includes various aspects of Azure, including Azure Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Monitor, Migrate, and Azure DNS.
Network security sharing: The conference will focus on data security, including artificial intelligence compliance, identity data governance, and other aspects.
Developer Tools: As a developer centered event, the conference will introduce how to improve the developer experience, such as using artificial intelligence technology for auxiliary work in development workflows, and the application skills of tools such as Visual Studio.
Data Management: Multiple agendas will cover new methods related to data management/processing processes, providing guidance for professionals.
It is also worth mentioning that Microsoft's self-developed AI chip may make its debut at this conference.
According to a person familiar with the situation quoted by technology media The Information, Microsoft plans to launch its first chip specifically designed for artificial intelligence at the annual developer conference, and the company has been developing it for many years.
According to relevant reports, Microsoft began the research and development plan for this AI chip as early as 2019, which is codenamed "Athena" within the company. A source previously revealed that the chips have been provided to a small number of Microsoft employees, as well as employees of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, who are currently testing and using these chips.
Some insiders have also revealed that Microsoft is collaborating with chip manufacturer AMD to fund the development of AI chips and jointly develop Athena.
It is not difficult to see that Microsoft's move aims to provide computing power for the development and training of AI large models, thereby reducing reliance on AI chips designed by NVIDIA and reducing the development and operation costs of large models.
At present, NVIDIA's AI chips are the mainstream chips in the artificial intelligence market. Due to high demand and limited production capacity, NVIDIA chips are expensive and in short supply.
However, relevant insiders said that Microsoft's move does not necessarily mean that it will go its separate ways with Nvidia. In fact, Microsoft still intends to continue working closely with Nvidia, whose AI chips are the main force for training and running artificial intelligence systems. Microsoft is still trying to obtain more Nvidia chips, highlighting the computing power shortage faced by Microsoft and other artificial intelligence developers.