However, the tech giant lacks its own proprietary silicon chips and relies on other companies to produce these essential AI model components. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft’s other AI investments will be enough to uphold its legacy for another 50 years — or if it will fall behind other AI companies.

Even as he grows older, Microsoft founder Bill Gates still fondly remembers the catalytic computer code he wrote 50 years ago that opened up a new frontier in technology.

Microsoft, which turns 50 years old today (April 5), started off with a lie. In 1975, the 20-year-old Gates and 22-year-old Allen approached MITS, the electronics company behind Altair 8800, and pretended to have created software for the computer. “There was just one problem: We didn’t,” noted Gates.