Microsoft Launches New AI Chip Maia 200 to Compete with Nvidia

Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst

MSFT+2.19%

NVDA+1.1%

GOOGL+0.39%

Source: Fool

Updated: 3h ago

0mins

Source: Fool

Chip Launch: Microsoft announced the Maia 200 chip in a blog post, designed to significantly enhance the economics of AI inference, which is expected to have a profound impact on the AI market.
Performance Edge: The Maia 200 features high-bandwidth memory that offers three times the performance of Amazon's third-generation Trainium chip and delivers 30% better performance per dollar than similarly priced alternatives, enhancing Microsoft's competitiveness in the AI sector.
Cloud Service Integration: This chip is tailored to support cloud services like Copilot and Azure OpenAI, which is expected to lower the operational costs of AI workloads, thereby boosting Microsoft's profit margins.
Developer Support: Microsoft plans to provide the Maia 200's SDK to developers, AI startups, and academics, aiming to attract more customers to its AI solutions and further solidify its market position.

MSFT

$480.58+Infinity%1D

Analyst Views on MSFT

Wall Street analysts forecast MSFT stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for MSFT is 631.36 USD with a low forecast of 500.00 USD and a high forecast of 678.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

34 Analyst Rating

32 Buy

2 Hold

0 Sell

Strong Buy

Current: 470.280

Low

500.00

Averages

631.36

High

678.00

Current: 470.280

Low

500.00

Averages

631.36

High

678.00

Stifel

Brad Reback

Buy

downgrade

$640 -> $520

2026-01-26

New

Reason

Stifel

Brad Reback

Price Target

$640 -> $520

AI Analysis

2026-01-26

New

downgrade

Buy

Reason

Stifel analyst Brad Reback lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $520 from $640 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares ahead of the company's upcoming earnings report. The firm expects Microsoft to post about 200 basis points of Azure upside, or 39% constant currency growth, inline with buyside expectations, the analyst tells investors in a preview. While fiscal Q3 represents a more difficult year-over-year Azure comp, the firm believes Microsoft can post a similar level of incremental sequential adds as Q3 of FY25, resulting in about 38% year-over-year CC growth guidance given sizable recent datacenter capacity expansions, the analyst added. However, the firm believes the company must get to a point where Azure growth meaningfully outpaces capex growth rates for the stock to effectively re-rate in coming quarters.

UBS

Buy

maintain

$650 -> $600

2026-01-23

New

Reason

UBS

Price Target

$650 -> $600

2026-01-23

New

maintain

Buy

Reason

UBS lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $600 from $650 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The continued ramp of Microsoft's large Fairwater AI data centers in Atlanta and Wisconsin is emerging as a key near-term catalyst for Azure growth, with the Wisconsin site coming online in Q1, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Progress at the Wisconsin build-out supports a higher Azure growth outlook ahead of Microsoft's January 28 earnings report, UBS says.

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Citi

Buy

downgrade

$690 -> $660

2026-01-21

Reason

Citi

Price Target

$690 -> $660

2026-01-21

downgrade

Buy

Reason

Citi lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $660 from $690 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Citi's reseller survey and partner data points were "more mixed" into Microsoft's fiscal Q2 results, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Citi expects an Azure beat in Q2 but reduced estimates for Microsoft's non-Azure businesses on weaker PC forecasts. The stock remains a top mega-cap idea at Citi.

Rothschild & Co Redburn

Alex Haissl

Neutral

downgrade

$500 -> $450

2026-01-21

Reason

Rothschild & Co Redburn

Alex Haissl

Price Target

$500 -> $450

2026-01-21

downgrade

Neutral

Reason

Rothschild & Co Redburn analyst Alex Haissl lowered the firm's price target on Microsoft to $450 from $500 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares.

About MSFT

Microsoft Corporation is a technology company that develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of products and services in its portfolio of productivity, communication, and information services, spanning a variety of devices and platforms. It comprises Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services; Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services; LinkedIn, and Dynamics products and cloud services. The Intelligent Cloud segment consists of its public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services. It comprises server products and cloud services, including Azure, and enterprise and partner services, including Enterprise Support Services. Its More Personal Computing segment primarily comprises Windows and Devices, including Windows OEM licensing; Gaming, including Xbox hardware and Xbox content; Search and news advertising, comprising Bing and Copilot, Microsoft News, and Microsoft Edge.

About the author

Emily J. Thompson

Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.