Microsoft Partners With VCs To Give Startups Free AI Chip Access (techcrunch.com) 4
In the midst of an AI chip shortage, Microsoft wants to give a privileged few startups free access to "supercomputing" resources from its Azure cloud for developing AI models. From a report: Microsoft today announced it's updating its startup program, Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, to include a no-cost Azure AI infrastructure option for "high-end," Nvidia-based GPU virtual machine clusters to train and run generative models, including large language models along the lines of ChatGPT. Y Combinator and its community of startup founders will be the first to gain access to the clusters in private preview. Why Y Combinator? Annie Pearl, VP of growth and ecosystems, Microsoft, called YC the "ideal initial partner," given its track record working with startups "at the earliest stages."
"We're working closely with Y Combinator to prioritize the asks from their current cohort, and then alumni, as part of our initial preview," Pearl said. "The focus will be on tasks like training and fine-tuning use cases that unblock innovation." It's not the first time Microsoft's attempted to curry favor with Y Combinator startups. In 2015, the company said it would give $500,000 in Azure credits to YC's Winter 2015 batch, a move that at the time was perceived as an effort to draw these startups away from rival clouds. One might argue the GPU clusters for AI training and inferencing are along the same self-serving vein.
"We're working closely with Y Combinator to prioritize the asks from their current cohort, and then alumni, as part of our initial preview," Pearl said. "The focus will be on tasks like training and fine-tuning use cases that unblock innovation." It's not the first time Microsoft's attempted to curry favor with Y Combinator startups. In 2015, the company said it would give $500,000 in Azure credits to YC's Winter 2015 batch, a move that at the time was perceived as an effort to draw these startups away from rival clouds. One might argue the GPU clusters for AI training and inferencing are along the same self-serving vein.
in exchange for equity (Score:2)
trading compute for equity is not 'free'
With Microsoft, one thing is certain (Score:1)
When Microsoft says they're going to give a thing away for free, you can be utterly certain that one way or another, it absolutely will NOT be free. You might as well get into a cage with a starving hyena and expect that everything will be just fine.
Re: (Score:2, Redundant)
There's reputedly an old saying among drug dealers and other sleazy sales types: The first hit is always free.
Especially if you can lock people into your platform.
Re: (Score:2)
Well said, my friend! I hadn't thought of it in that context, but you're absolutely right.