Microsoft is reportedly developing an AI chip codenamed "Athena" to power its chatbots, including ChatGPT. The chip has been under development since 2019 and is being tested by a small group of Microsoft and OpenAI employees. The chip will be used for training large language models and supporting inference, essential for generative AI to process vast amounts of data and create new conversation outputs. Microsoft hopes Athena will outperform what it currently buys from other vendors, saving time and money. The rollout is being accelerated following the success of ChatGPT, and Microsoft earlier launched its own AI-powered search engine, Bing AI.