Microsoft has been working very closely with Qualcomm recently. In the past couple of months, Qualcomm has unveiled the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G compute platform for Windows on ARM PCs, and also revealed that App Assure is coming to platform, a major step in app compatibility.
Now, the two organizations have announced that they are collaborating to enhance the artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) developer experience.
Microsoft and Qualcomm will be working to improve the development and deployment of AI and ML solutions for developers working in this domain. This partnership mainly benefits organizations which utilize Microsoft's AI and Azure solutions in combination with Qualcomm's IoT processors and other products which utilize AI.
While Microsoft hasn't gone into the details of what this collaboration entails as of yet, it has highlighted that Qualcomm is in a decent position to make use of the Redmond tech giant's polished AI and ML solutions - such as the Azure IoT platform - to "drive hardware-accelerated inference capabilities from ultra-low power edge AI solutions all the way to high-performance AI inferencing in the cloud using the Qualcomm Cloud AI 100, leveraging 5G deployments with commercial customers".
Keith Kressin, Senior President and General Manager, Compute and Cloud at Qualcomm Technologies had the following to say regarding the new partnership between the firms:
5G and AI are the two key technologies today fueling the convergence of the cloud and devices at the edge of networks. Collaborating with Microsoft to accelerate AI across a wide breadth of connected devices from the edge to the cloud, with our platform that runs single-milliwatt to Snapdragon to the Qualcomm Cloud AI 100, will enable a variety of powerful new applications and services.
Microsoft hopes that this collaboration will enhance the AI and ML development and deployment experience for developers working in various industries.
