Amidst a shortage of AI chips, Microsoft is aiming to provide select startups with complimentary access to “supercomputing” resources on its Azure cloud for the development of AI models. The company has announced updates to its startup program, Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, incorporating a no-cost option for Azure AI infrastructure. This option includes high-end GPU virtual machine clusters based on Nvidia technology, suitable for training and running generative models, such as large language models akin to ChatGPT.
Y Combinator and its community of startup founders will be the initial beneficiaries in a private preview of these clusters. Microsoft’s choice of Y Combinator as a partner stems from its reputation for working with startups in their earliest stages. Annie Pearl, VP of Growth and Ecosystems at Microsoft, explained the collaboration, emphasizing a focus on tasks like training and fine-tuning to spur innovation.
While Microsoft had previously courted Y Combinator startups in 2015 with $500,000 in Azure credits, the current initiative is distinct, aiming to extend beyond Y Combinator to other startups. Microsoft plans to collaborate with its venture fund, M12, and the startups in M12’s portfolio to broaden access to the clusters. Future partnerships with additional startup investors and accelerators are also on the horizon, aligning with Microsoft’s vision of making Azure the premier cloud for building AI solutions.
Acknowledging that Microsoft is running a business rather than a charity, Pearl clarified that startups won’t have indefinite free access to run their AI models on the clusters. Access will be time-bound, facilitating startups to test and trial their operations. Microsoft, however, positions this offering as unique in the AI ecosystem, presenting it as the first program of its kind specifically targeting earlier-stage startups and providing them with Azure credits for running AI workloads, effectively offering free GPUs to drive the next wave of AI innovation.
While competitors like AWS and Google Cloud also offer startup programs for early-stage AI-focused companies, Microsoft aims to differentiate itself by leveraging partnerships with investors and their networks, potentially gaining traction where others have not.
