Meta Begins Testing In-House AI Chip To Cut Nvidia Dependence - 1

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Meta Begins Testing In-House AI Chip To Cut Nvidia Dependence

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Meta has begun testing its first in-house chip for training artificial intelligence systems, marking a strategic shift aimed at reducing its reliance on Nvidia and cutting infrastructure costs, according to an exclusive report from Reuters.

In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!

  • The chip is a dedicated accelerator designed for AI-specific tasks, improving efficiency.
  • Meta is collaborating with TSMC to manufacture the chip after a successful “tape-out.”
  • The chip may support AI training for recommendations and generative AI like Meta AI.

The chip, part of Meta’s long-term push toward custom silicon, is currently in a small-scale deployment. If successful, the company plans to expand its use, sources told Reuters .

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has been investing heavily in AI, with projected 2025 expenses between $114 billion and $119 billion, including up to $65 billion in AI-related capital expenditures, as reported by Reuters.

The new AI training chip is a dedicated accelerator, optimized for AI-specific tasks, making it potentially more power-efficient than traditional graphics processing units (GPUs).

Reuters reports that Meta is reportedly working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce the chip. The development follows the company’s first successful “tape-out,” an essential step in chip design that involves sending an initial prototype to a manufacturer.

This process can take months and cost tens of millions of dollars, with no guarantee of success. Reuters notes that Meta’s previous attempts at custom AI chips have seen mixed results, including the scrapping of an earlier training chip.

Meta began using an in-house inference chip last year to optimize content recommendations on Facebook and Instagram. The company now aims to extend its custom chip capabilities to AI training, starting with recommendation systems and eventually expanding to generative AI products like Meta AI, as reported by Reuters.

While Meta remains one of Nvidia’s largest customers, recent shifts in AI research have raised questions about the long-term scalability of large language models, potentially influencing the demand for high-powered GPUs.

Elon Musk Attributes X Platform Disruptions to Major Cyberattack - 2

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Elon Musk Attributes X Platform Disruptions to Major Cyberattack

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The social media platform X experienced multiple outages on Monday. Its owner, Elon Musk, publicly announced that it had been happening due to a powerful cyberattack.

In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!

  • Elon Musk reported that X experienced a “massive cyberattack” on Monday, leading to widespread outages.
  • Users reported difficulties accessing X, with outage reports peaking at over 40,000 around 10:00 a.m. ET.
  • Cybersecurity experts expressed skepticism about the scale and origin of the attack, noting that such disruptions can be caused by small groups or individuals.

According to CNBC , around 40,000 users reported experiencing issues with the platform around 10:00 am ET yesterday, as registered by the real-time outage monitoring website Downdetector. Nearly 28,000 spotted glitches at 11:30 a.m. ET, and about 22,000 also faced difficulties accessing the platform at 2:00 p.m. ET.

“There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against 𝕏,” wrote Musk on his X account. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”

The platform issue happened on the same day Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) rolled out GSAi , a proprietary chatbot to automate tasks at the General Services Administration (GSA), amid massive job cuts.

According to Reuters , cybersecurity specialists were skeptical regarding Musk’s declarations and what the billionaire meant about “a lot of resources” as the denials of service—the type of attack the platform X received—had been executed by individuals or small groups.

An anonymous source in the internet infrastructure industry told Reuters the social media network had been hit by multiple waves of denial of service throughout the day.

In an interview with Fox Business Network, Musk said that the cyberattacks came from IP addresses located in Ukraine. However, Reuter’s source, said that the rouge traffic linked to Ukranian IP addresses was “insignificant” and that a large amount of the malicious traffic attacking X was tracked back to IP addresses in the United States, Brazil, Vietnam, and other regions.

Musk had previously backed President Donald Trump criticizing Ukraine’s fighting strategies against Russians and said on Sunday that their front lines “would collapse” without his Starlink satellite internet service.