Google, Amazon and Microsoft are all confirmed or rumoured to be working on their own ARM-based server CPUs. Apple is almost certainly mulling the option too. T

Google, Amazon and Microsoft are all confirmed or rumoured to be working on their own ARM-based server CPUs. Apple is almost certainly mulling the option too. This has huge implications for x86. If all the big internet players start developing their own chips, we could very quickly see ARM powering a huge portion of the worlds servers. This is all happening because ARM licenses it’s core design and ISA to anyone. It’s becoming relatively easy for major internet companies to design and implement their own bespoke CPU designs, optimized for their unique workloads. This means better performance, and lower energy costs, which is critical for these massive datacentres. The optimization benefits offered by that degree of vertical integration is something Intel may not be able to compete with. For Intel this is obviously terrible news. Severs are their second biggest cash cow, and MS might end up being merely among the first of many internet companies to pursue their own CPU designs. This could foretell a rapid shift away from Intel and x86 in the server space. This has implications for their PC chip business too. More money invested into ARM processors, means more R&D for ARM-based designs, which means better ARM chips in PC and mobile. This makes Intel less competitive in the PC space.