The company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is working on a special computer chip called "Artemis." This new chip is important because it will help Meta handle the growing need for computer power to run its AI (Artificial Intelligence) features. By using its chip, Meta won't depend as much on Nvidia, another company that makes AI chips. Also, this change will help Meta save on its energy bills.
In a blog post, the company explained that the design of this chip is mainly aimed at finding the perfect mix of computing power, memory speed, and memory space. This is important for working with models that help sort and suggest things to users.
The new chip called Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) is just one part of Meta's big project to make its own electronic parts. This project isn't just about making chips; it also involves creating other kinds of computer hardware. Besides making these parts, Meta is also putting a lot of effort into making software. This software is needed to make sure that the computers and devices Meta builds can work as well as possible.
The company is spending a lot of money to buy Nvidia and other AI chips. This year, Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of the company, said they plan to buy about 350,000 top-of-the-line H100 chips from Nvidia. Along with chips from other companies, Meta wants to have a total of something like 600,000 H100 chips by the end of the year, according to him.
The company making the new chip is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, and they're using a very tiny and advanced method called "5nm" to make it. Meta mentioned that this new chip is three times better at its job than their first chip.
Looking ahead, the chip is already being used in big computer setups to help run AI programs. Meta is working on more projects to make this chip do even more, like helping with creative AI tasks.
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