AFP
Google made a groundbreaking announcement at the Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas, revealing its plans to introduce custom Arm-based server chips known as Axion processors in 2024. This strategic move is aimed at revolutionizing cloud computing by improving performance and affordability, positioning Google to compete with industry giants like Amazon and Microsoft.
Chirag Dekate, an analyst at Gartner, emphasized the significance of Google’s venture into Arm chip technology, noting that most of their services are already optimized for the Arm ecosystem. This move aligns with the industry trend, following similar initiatives by competitors like Amazon Web Services, Alibaba, and Microsoft in adopting Arm chips.
While Google dominates the advertising sector, its cloud division, which includes corporate productivity tools, has been rapidly expanding and now contributes nearly 11% of the company’s revenue. Despite this growth, Google faces tough competition from Amazon and Microsoft, who collectively control a significant portion of the cloud infrastructure market.
Google’s decision to introduce virtual machines using Arm-based chips is seen as a positive step, reflecting the company’s prior engagement with Arm technology. The upcoming Axion processors, named after the Greek word for “a source of knowledge,” are expected to strengthen Google’s position in cloud computing by facilitating the migration of various operations to cloud-based Arm instances.
The Axion processors promise a substantial performance boost, surpassing existing Arm-based virtual machines in the cloud by 30% and outperforming x86-based VMs by 50%. This indicates the potential of these processors to accelerate a wide range of workloads, from web services to AI training.
Arm CEO Rene Haas commended Google’s collaboration in developing high-performance chips tailored for cloud computing, stating that the Axion CPU represents a significant milestone in custom silicon optimization for Google’s infrastructure. The broader adoption of Arm-based chips is also expected to bring environmental benefits, with Axion-powered virtual servers offering 60% more energy efficiency than x86 counterparts, aligning with Google’s sustainability goals.
Google
Cloud computing
2024-04-13 08:51:01
Source from www.ibtimes.com