Energy efficient: Uses less power.

Scalable: Can be easily expanded.

Simpler than x86 architectures: Easier to design and manage.

Lots of cores: Can handle many tasks at the same time.

Low power usage: Consumes less electricity.

Scalability: Can work well in large, distributed systems.

Altra Series: Ampere launched the Altra series in 2020 to enter the high-performance server CPU market. These CPUs are designed for cloud and data center applications, offering strong processing power and efficiency. They use ARM architecture, known for low power use and high scalability.

Altra: The first Altra CPUs are built on the ARM Neoverse N1 platform and have up to 80 cores per CPU. This makes them great for handling large workloads in cloud environments where many tasks run at the same time. Each core works independently, ensuring high efficiency even with diverse and demanding tasks.

Altra Max: The Altra Max is an improved version of the Altra, with up to 128 cores per CPU. This boosts processing power, making it better for high-performance tasks like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics. It continues to use the ARM Neoverse architecture, providing power efficiency with enhanced capabilities.

AmpereOne: In 2023, Ampere introduced the AmpereOne CPU, a major advancement with a custom design. Unlike the Altra series, which uses ARM’s Neoverse platform, AmpereOne has an in-house developed architecture for specific cloud computing needs.

Multi-threaded Applications: These CPUs are excellent for tasks that can be divided into smaller, simultaneous processes. This is useful for cloud-based services like web hosting, video streaming, and online gaming.

Virtualized Systems: In environments where many virtual machines (VMs) run on one server, each core can handle a different VM, improving performance and keeping resources separate. This is ideal for cloud service providers.

Containers: Containers are lightweight and share resources. Ampere’s many cores allow them to run lots of containers at the same time, which is perfect for applications using microservices.

AmpereOne’s Single-thread Performance: The AmpereOne series has a custom design that boosts performance for single-threaded tasks. This is useful for database operations, certain data analyses, and some business applications. It balances handling many tasks at once with excelling at specific, demanding tasks.

Flexible Resource Use: In the cloud, resources need to be used efficiently. Ampere processors let cloud providers adjust resources as needed, whether for one application or many. This flexibility helps save costs and use resources better.

Energy Efficiency: Ampere CPUs are designed to use energy efficiently, reducing operational costs. This is important for large cloud data centers that focus on performance and sustainability.

Handling Various Workloads: Ampere CPUs can handle different types of tasks, from microservices to big data and AI. This versatility means companies can run many applications without needing different hardware, simplifying management and improving performance.

Lower Power Usage: ARM-based CPUs, like those in Ampere’s Altra and AmpereOne series, use much less power than many x86 processors. This is crucial for large data centers where energy costs are high. By using less electricity, Ampere CPUs help make data centers greener and more sustainable.

Less Need for Cooling: ARM processors generate less heat, so data centers can save on cooling costs. Traditional x86 servers need extensive cooling to prevent overheating, but ARM-based processors reduce this need. Less heat also means the hardware lasts longer, cutting down on replacements and maintenance.

Cost Savings for Data Centers: By using less power and needing less cooling, data centers with Ampere’s ARM-based CPUs can save a lot of money over time. Lower energy bills, less frequent maintenance, and reduced cooling infrastructure make large operations more cost-effective while maintaining high performance.

Optimized for Power Efficiency: Ampere’s focus on power efficiency helps data centers optimize their operations, allowing them to increase capacity without significantly raising energy use. This is important as more businesses move to cloud services and demand more computing power.

Ideal for Hyperscale Environments: Large data centers, especially those run by cloud providers, need to process huge amounts of data while keeping costs down. The energy-efficient design of Ampere CPUs helps these centers get the computing power they need while staying within power and cooling limits. This is crucial for companies aiming to meet sustainability goals without losing performance.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Beyond immediate energy savings, Ampere’s ARM-based CPUs offer a lower total cost of ownership for data centers. Over time, reduced power use, lower cooling costs, and longer hardware lifespan lead to significant financial benefits. As data centers evolve, the ability to run high-performance, scalable workloads efficiently while keeping costs down is a key reason to choose Ampere’s solutions.

Cloud service providers

Enterprise data centers

Edge computing

Strong performance for cloud-based tasks

Energy efficiency

Potential cost savings for large-scale operations

Oracle Cloud: Oracle uses Ampere Altra CPUs in its cloud to give customers powerful computing for running cloud-native apps. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) offers Ampere A1 compute instances, which are great for running web servers and containerized apps with good scalability and energy efficiency. This makes Oracle a good choice for those wanting high performance without high costs.

Microsoft Azure: Azure has added Ampere-based servers to its services, offering energy-efficient and scalable compute instances for general cloud tasks and specialized ones like AI and machine learning. This shows the need for cost-effective, high-performance cloud infrastructure that also reduces power use and carbon footprints.

Equinix Metal: Equinix Metal uses Ampere CPUs for its bare-metal servers, which give customers direct hardware access. This is ideal for high-control and high-performance applications like gaming servers, large databases, or performance-sensitive apps. Ampere CPUs help Equinix Metal offer these benefits with lower energy costs and better efficiency.

Edge Computing: This means processing data close to its source, like IoT devices, instead of relying on central cloud data centers. Ampere’s processors are perfect for this because they use less power and perform well. They help process data in real-time with minimal delays, improving applications like autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and industrial automation. Their energy efficiency also makes them suitable for remote or power-limited locations.

Specialized Cloud Services (AI and Machine Learning): AI and ML tasks need a lot of computing power to process and analyze large datasets. Ampere’s CPUs, with many cores and energy efficiency, are great for these tasks. Specialized cloud services focusing on AI and ML, like training neural networks or real-time data processing for predictive analytics, benefit from Ampere’s processors. They handle large-scale computations while reducing power and cooling costs, making them ideal for AI-driven innovation.

Various Linux versions (e.g., Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux)

FreeBSD

Microsoft Windows Server

Container platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes)

Popular databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB)

Web and application servers

Altra Series: Made with a 7nm process. This means more transistors fit on the chip, leading to better performance and lower power use.

AmpereOne Series: Built with an even smaller 5 nm process, which further improves efficiency and performance.

Core Counts: Customers can choose how many cores they want in their CPUs, allowing them to tailor performance for their applications.

Clock Speed Adjustments: Clients can request adjustments to the CPU's clock speed to optimize performance for particular tasks or workloads.

Custom Features: Ampere can add unique features designed for specific use cases, ensuring that the processors meet the exact requirements of their customers.

Performance: They aim to make their CPUs faster and more capable of handling demanding tasks.

Energy Efficiency: Ampere is focused on reducing power consumption while maintaining high performance, which is crucial for data centers.

Security Features: As cybersecurity becomes increasingly important, Ampere is working on improving the security of their processors to protect data and applications.

New CPU Designs: They intend to create new processors targeting different markets, allowing them to serve a wider range of customers and applications.

Integration of Specialized Accelerators: Ampere may develop CPUs with built-in accelerators designed for specific tasks, such as artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, which require a lot of processing power.

Enhanced Interconnect Technologies: They are likely to improve the technology that allows CPUs to communicate with each other and with other components, which can boost overall system performance.

Improved Energy Efficiency: As companies compete, there will likely be advancements in energy-saving technologies for all server CPUs.

More Diverse CPU Architectures: Data centers may start to use a wider variety of CPU designs, which can lead to better performance customized to specific tasks.

Increased Focus on Cloud-Optimized Designs: The push for cloud computing will inspire more developments focused on creating processors specifically designed for cloud environments.