Ampere unveils 80-core Altra server processor designed for modern cloud and edge computing data centres

The chip features 7nm architecture based on a 64-bit ARM design

ARM server-chip start-up Ampere unveiled an industry first 80-core CPU, the Ampere Altra server processor which, the company claimed, is twice as fast as comparable processors from Intel.

Ampere described its new chip as the next-generation, cloud-focused product, specifically designed for modern cloud and edge computing data centres.

"Ampere Altra is the first of the next generation of server microprocessors that are designed for the workloads of today in the cloud and on the edge," said Renee James, Ampere founder and CEO.

"The Ampere Altra is delivering breakthrough performance with the industry's first 80-core, cloud native microprocessor," Renee added.

According to Ampere, its new server processor features 7nm architecture based on a 64-bit ARM design, allowing Ampere to put up to 80 cores on a single chip. It is more than twice faster than comparable 28-core Xeon Platinum 8280 chip from Intel, Ampere claimed.

Unlike AMD's EPYC and Intel's Xeon, the ARM cores come without multi-threading, meaning that software runs on a single thread per core.

Altra is said to be more energy efficient, boasting a thermal design power (TDP) of up to 210 watts, compared with the 205 watts TDP of comparable Xeon Platinum 8280.

Altra can be used in both single- and dual-CPU servers, and is targeted at such server applications as artificial intelligence, data analytics, storage, database, web hosting, edge computing, and cloud-native applications.

Intel currently accounts for nearly 95 per cent of the server chip market, while AMD is at second spot, but taking a growing share of the market since the introduction of the Zen architecture. However, Ampere, which was founded just two years ago by former Intel president Renée James, has now started to target high-performance, power-efficient, and high-memory capacity features in server chips.

Santa Clara, California-based Ampere also revealed that it has started shipping the Altra chip to customers around the world, including many top cloud service providers. They are testing the chip on their software stacks to drive power efficiency and optimised performance in the cloud.

According to Jeff Wittich, senior vice president of products at Ampere, Altra is equipped with features that are increasingly demanded by customers and specifically optimised for cloud usage.

The cloud's requirements for security, power efficiency and performance are very different from traditional enterprise data centre environments, according to Wittich.

Microsoft is currently evaluating Ampere's Altra in its labs and could use them in future to power Azure cloud services. Oracle is also planning to use these chips in its cloud services. The company is optimising much of its software to run on Altra.