We say apparently because the chip is called the “Maia 100.” In Greek legend, Maia (right) was the mother of the trickster god Hermes (left), who was already stealing cattle as soon as he could crawl.

Vole said that the Maia 100 chip will provide Microsoft Azure cloud customers with a new way run AI programs that generate content.

Azure chip VP Rani Borkar said that Vole was testing the chip with its Bing and Office AI products.

Microsoft's main AI partner, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, is also testing the processor. Maia and the server chip, Cobalt, will debut in some Microsoft data centres early next year. The Romans named the month of May after Maia, so that might be a release date.

Microsoft appears to be building the chip because it is a little concerned about being too dependent on Nvidia which has its work cut out making enough AI chips to meet demand.