Ampere says flagship chip to be offered by Google Cloud

Ampere Computing, a semiconductor firm headed by ex-Intel executives that is planning to list its shares publicly, said its flagship chips will be offered by Google Cloud.

The deal is significant because cloud computing firms such as Google are some of the biggest buyers of data centre chips.

Jeff Wittich, Ampere’s chief product officer, said more deals with other cloud providers will follow later this year, but he declined to name them.

Ampere’s chips use technology from SoftBank Group’s Arm, which revealed earlier this month in initial public offering filings that it owns a 6.8 percent stake in Ampere.

Oracle is also a major shareholder in the startup, which last year filed confidential paperwork to go public but has not said when it plans to list shares.

The deal with Google Cloud represents the first time a cloud computing company has offered Ampere’s “AmpereOne” chips, which have custom-designed computing cores that help set the chip apart from other Arm-based chips such as those made by Amazon.com and others.

Ampere’s chips aim to use less energy than rival chips from Intel while doing similar kinds of computing work.

“These are now much easier for people to find,” Wittich said.

About Author

AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

See author's posts