AMD surges as Microsoft said to help finance AI chip push
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AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) shares surged more than 9% on Thursday after it was reported that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was helping to pay for the semiconductor company's push into processors used for artificial intelligence workloads.
Microsoft's (MSFT) deal to help pay for the chips is part of its further push into AI, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation. In addition, Microsoft (MSFT) is also working with AMD (AMD) on its own AI chip, internally known as Athena.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft (MSFT) has roughly 1,000 employees working in its silicon division as the company continues to work on its own processors, the news outlet added.
Google (GOOG) (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) already have their own line of processors.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose around 1% in mid-day trading on back of the news.
Nvidia (NVDA), widely considered the leader in AI chips, fell around 1.6% following the report. Microsoft (MSFT) still uses Nvidia chips for its AI workloads, including February's announcement of virtual machines that use Nvidia's H100 chipsets.
An AMD spokesman told Seeking Alpha the company does not comment on rumor or speculation. Microsoft did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Earlier this week, AMD (AMD) CEO Dr. Lisa Su said the company is in a "strong position" in AI, but that it was still the "very early stages" of the AI era.

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