Microsoft begins deployment of Maia 200 AI chip across Europe

Microsoft began deploying its Maia 200 AI chip across Europe on October 13, 2026. The company plans to scale its in-house Azure Maia AI chip family to multi-gigawatt deployments starting in 2027. Microsoft also introduced Maia 300, which is expected to deliver 40 per cent more tokens per watt than leading GPU-based systems. Maia 200 is currently serving production workloads, including Microsoft Copilot, and is deployed across the United States, Europe, and Australia.

The deployment signals Microsoft's strategy to use its own silicon for AI services, aiming to improve performance and energy efficiency. The chips are designed to run AI models more efficiently by coordinating hardware, software, memory, and networking. This expansion is part of a larger effort by Microsoft to make Maia the primary system for running AI models across its products and services.