Microsoft Corp. has abandoned new data center projects in the US and Europe with a planned electricity consumption of 2 gigawatts, according to TD Cowen analysts. The analysts attribute this move to an oversupply of the computer clusters that fuel artificial intelligence.
The analysts, who previously alerted investors to Microsoft’s abandoned leases in the US in a February note, explained that the latest decision also stems from the company’s choice to forgo certain new business opportunities with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, in which Microsoft has invested approximately $13 billion. Earlier this year, Microsoft and OpenAI adjusted their multiyear agreement, allowing OpenAI to utilize cloud-computing services from other companies if Microsoft didn’t wish to pursue the business itself.
