Ampere Computing#Products

Ampere Computing was founded in the Fall of 2017 by Renée James,{{Cite web |last=Burt |first=Jeffrey |date=2022-03-02 |title=Designing Chips With The Cloud And Edge In Mind |url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2022/03/01/designing-chips-with-the-cloud-and-edge-in-mind/ |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=The Next Platform |language=en-US}} ex-President of Intel, with funding from The Carlyle Group. James acquired a team from MACOM Technology Solutions (formerly AppliedMicro) in addition to several industry hires to start the company.{{Cite web |last=Clarke |first=Peter |date=2018-02-05 |title=Former Intel exec leads high-performance processor startup |url=https://www.eenewsanalog.com/en/former-intel-exec-leads-high-performance-processor-startup/ |access-date=2022-10-07 |website=EENewsEurope |language=en-US}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/technology/renee-james-intel-ampere-startup.html |title=She Was No. 2 at Intel. Now She's Taking Aim at the Chip Maker. |date=2018-02-05 |work=The New York Times |last=Clark |first=Don |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109033236/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/technology/renee-james-intel-ampere-startup.html |archive-date=2020-11-09 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2022/04/semiconductor-startup-files-confidentially-for-ipo.html |title=Former Intel president Renee James' semiconductor startup company files for an IPO |date=2022-04-12 |work=American City Business Journals |last=Spencer |first=Malia}}{{cite web |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/14212/ampere-computing-arm-is-an-investor |title=Ampere Computing: Arm is Now an Investor |date=2019-04-15 |work=AnandTech |last=Cutress |first=Ian}} Ampere Computing is an ARM architecture licensee and develops its own server microprocessors.{{Cite web |title=StackPath |url=https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/embedded-revolution/article/21238841/electronic-design-arm-serverchip-startup-ampere-computing-preps-for-ipo |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=www.electronicdesign.com|date=13 April 2022 }} Ampere fabricates its products at TSMC.{{Cite web |title=Former Intel president Renee James' semiconductor startup company files for an IPO |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2022/04/semiconductor-startup-files-confidentially-for-ipo.html |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}

In April 2019, Ampere announced its second major investment round, including investment from Arm Holdings and Oracle Corporation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/27/oracle-disclosed-40-million-investment-in-ampere-run-by-renee-james.html|title=Oracle discloses $40 million stake in Ampere, a chip start-up founded by former Intel president Renee James|last=Levy|first=Ari|date=2019-09-27|website=CNBC|language=en|access-date=2019-11-23}} In June 2019, Nvidia announced a partnership with Ampere to bring support for Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA).{{cite web |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/15871/amperes-product-list-80-cores-up-to-33-ghz-at-250-w-128-core-in-q4 |title=80-Core N1 Next-Gen Ampere, 'QuickSilver': The Anti-Graviton2 |date=2019-12-23 |work=AnandTech |last=Cutress |first=Ian}}{{Cite press release |url=http://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-brings-cuda-to-arm-enabling-new-path-to-exascale-supercomputing|title=NVIDIA Brings CUDA to Arm, Enabling New Path to Exascale Supercomputing |author= |date=June 17, 2019 |website=NVIDIA Newsroom |language=en |access-date=January 27, 2025}} In November 2019, Nvidia announced a reference design platform for graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated ARM-based servers including Ampere.{{cite web |url=https://www.eetimes.com/nvidia-delivers-on-promise-to-support-arm/ |title=Nvidia Delivers on Promise to Support Arm |date=2019-11-18 |work=EE Times |last=Santo |first=Brian}}

In the first half of 2020, Ampere announced Ampere Altra an 80-core and Ampere Altra Max a 128-core processor without the use of simultaneous multithreading.{{Cite web|title=Ampere's 128-Core Processor Challenges Intel and AMD in a Cloud-Based Processor Showdown - News|url=https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/ampere-altra-max-128-core-processor-challenges-intel-and-amd-in-a-cloud-based-processor-showdown/|access-date=2020-12-31|website=www.allaboutcircuits.com|language=en}}

In March 2020, the company announced a partnership with Oracle.{{Cite web |last=Mann |first=Tobias |title=Ampere Targets Intel, AMD With Cloud-First Chips, Oracle Partnership |url=https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/ampere-targets-intel-amd-with-cloud-first-chips-oracle-partnership/2020/03/ |website=sdxcentral|date=4 March 2020 }} In September of that year, Oracle said it would launch bare-metal and virtual machine instances in early 2021 based on Ampere Altra.{{Cite web|date=2020-09-30|title=Ampere's Arm Data Center Chips Come to Oracle Cloud|url=https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/ampere-s-arm-data-center-chips-come-oracle-cloud|access-date=2021-01-12|website=Data Center Knowledge|language=en}}

In November 2020, Ampere was named one of the top 10 hottest semiconductor startups by CRN.{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Dylan|date=2020-11-23|title=The 10 Hottest Semiconductor Startups Of 2020|url=https://www.crn.com/slide-shows/internet-of-things/the-10-hottest-ai-chip-startups-of-2020-so-far |access-date=2024-12-07|website=CRN}}

In May 2021, the company announced a partnership with Microsoft.{{Cite web |last=Trueman |first=Charlotte |date=2022-04-05 |title=Microsoft launches Azure VMs powered by new Ampere Altra Arm-based chips |url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/3655956/microsoft-launches-azure-vms-powered-by-new-ampere-altra-arm-based-chips.html |access-date=2022-08-02 |website=Network World |language=en}} In July of that year, Ampere acquired OnSpecta, an AI technology startup.{{Cite news |author=AIT News Desk |date=2021-07-29 |title=Ampere To Acquire OnSpecta To Accelerate AI Inference On Cloud-Native Applications |url=https://aithority.com/technology/ampere-to-acquire-onspecta-to-accelerate-ai-inference-on-cloud-native-applications/ |access-date=2025-01-27 |website=AiThority |language=en-US}} After the acquisition, the companies were able to demonstrate four times faster acceleration on Ampere-based instances running AI-inference workloads.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In April 2022, Ampere said that it had filed a confidential prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling its intent to go public.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/chipmaker-ampere-confidentially-files-us-ipo-2022-04-11/ |title=Chipmaker Ampere confidentially files for U.S. IPO |date=2022-04-11 |work=Reuters |first=Niket |last=Nishant}}

In June 2022, HPE announced their Gen11 ProLiant system would use Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max Cloud Native Processors.{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Steven |date=2022-06-28 |title=Processor Power Play: HPE Puts Ampere ARM On ProLiant |url=https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/processor-power-play-hpe-puts-ampere-arm-on-proliant |access-date=2022-07-21 |website=CRN |language=en}}

In July 2022, Google announced T2A instances using Ampere Altra in the Google cloud and in August 2022 Microsoft announced their instances of Ampere running in Azure.{{Cite web |date=2022-08-02 |title=Why Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud love Ampere Computing's server chips |url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/silicon/ampere-computing-ipo-microsoft-azure-google-cloud |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=Tech Monitor |language=en-US}}

On March 19, 2025, investment holding company SoftBank Group announced it will acquire Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion. The deal is set to close in the second half of 2025. Ampere will remain an independent subsidiary with its headquarters in Santa Clara, California.{{Cite web |last=Novet |first=Jordan |last2=CNBC |last3=Butts |first3=Dylan |last4=Cnbc • • |date=2025-03-19 |title=SoftBank to acquire chip designer Ampere in $6.5 billion deal |url=https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/business/money-report/softbank-to-acquire-chip-designer-ampere-in-6-5-billion-deal/3658858/ |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=NBC Los Angeles |language=en-US}}

Ampere develops ARM-based computer processors and CPU cores under their Altra brands. These are used in databases, media encoding, web services, network acceleration, mobile gaming, AI inference processing, and other applications and programs that need to scale.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-15 |title=Microsoft Finally Brings ARM-Based VMs to Azure |url=https://thenewstack.io/microsoft-finally-brings-arm-based-vms-to-azure/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=The New Stack |language=en-US}}

On February 5, 2018, Ampere announced the eMAG 8180 featuring 32x Skylark cores fabricated on TSMC's 16FF+ process. It supports a turbo of up to 3.3 GHz with a TDP of 125 W, 8ch 64-bit DDR4, up to 1 TB DDR4 per socket, and 42x PCIe 3.0 Lanes.{{Cite web|url=https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/776/x-gene-3-gets-a-second-chance-at-ampere-with-a-new-32-core-16nm-arm-processor/|title=X-Gene 3 gets a second chance at Ampere with a new 32-core 16 nm ARM processor|date=2018-02-05|website=WikiChip Fuse|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-23}} The Skylark cores were based on AppliedMicro's X-Gene 3.{{Cite web|url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/14141/ampere-emag-in-the-cloud-32-arm-core-instance-for-1hr|title=Ampere eMAG in the Cloud: 32 Arm Core Instance for $1/hr|last=Cutress|first=Ian|website=www.anandtech.com|access-date=2019-11-23}} Packet offers servers with the eMAG 8180 and 128 GB DRAM, 480 GB SSD, and 2x 10 Gbit/s networking.{{Cite web|url=https://www.packet.com/cloud/servers/c2-large-arm|title=Living he Arm Server Dream |website=www.packet.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-23 | url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200305115215/https://www.packet.com/cloud/servers/c2-large-arm/ | archive-date=March 5, 2020}} On September 19, 2018, Ampere announced the availability of a version featuring 16x Skylark cores.{{Cite web|url=https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/1663/ampere-ships-first-gen-arm-server-processors/|title=Ampere Ships First Gen ARM Server Processors|date=2018-09-19|website=WikiChip Fuse|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-23}}

On March 3, 2020, Ampere announced the Ampere Altra featuring 80 cores fabricated on TSMC's N7 process for hyperscale computing.{{Cite web |title=Ampere Altra Is First ARM-based 64-bit Server Processor, Packs 80 Cores, Challenging Intel Xeon And AMD EPYC - Appuals.com |work=Appuals |date=24 March 2020 |url=https://appuals.com/ampere-altra-first-arm-64-bit/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |language=en-US |last1=Desai |first1=Alap Naik }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.servethehome.com/ampere-altra-80-arm-cores-for-cloud/|title=Ampere Altra Launched with 80 Arm Cores for the Cloud|last=Kennedy|first=Patrick|date=2020-03-03|website=ServeTheHome|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-05}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/15575/amperes-altra-80-core-n1-soc-for-hyperscalers-against-rome-and-xeon|title=Next Generation Arm Server: Ampere's Altra 80-core N1 SoC for Hyperscalers against Rome and Xeon|last=Cutress|first=Dr Ian|website=www.anandtech.com|access-date=2020-03-05}} It was the first server-grade processor to include 80 cores and the Q80-30 conserves power by running at 161 W in use. The cores are semi-custom Arm Neoverse N1 cores with Ampere modifications.{{Cite web|url=https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/hardware/ampere-gears-launch-7nm-80-core-arm-chip-cloud-data-centers|title=Ampere Gears Up to Launch 7 nm, 80-Core Arm Chip for Cloud Data Centers|date=2019-11-22|website=Data Center Knowledge|language=en|access-date=2019-11-23}} It supports a frequency of up to 3.3 GHz with TDP of 250 W, 8ch 72-bit DDR4, up to 4 TB DDR4-3200 per socket, 128x PCIe 4.0 Lanes, 1 MB L2 per core and 32 MB SLC.

Ampere also announced their roadmap with Ampere Altra Max (2021) in development and AmpereOne (2022) defined.{{Cite web |title=Ampere Altra Max 128-core server processor available as company lays out 5 nm roadmap |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ampere-altra-max-128-core-server-processor-available-as-company-lays-out-5-nm-roadmap/ |access-date=2022-08-11 |website=ZDNet |language=en}}

The 128-core Altra Max was released in 2021 and targeted hyperscale cloud providers.{{Cite web |last=Comment |first=Sebastian Moss |title=Ampere unveils 128 core Altra Max Arm chip |url=https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ampere-unveils-128-core-altra-max-arm-chip/ |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=www.datacenterdynamics.com |date=25 June 2020 |language=en}} It uses the same server socket and platforms as Ampere Altra, and both products have one thread per core.{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Timothy Prickett |date=2020-06-24 |title=Ampere Reveals "Quicksilver" Altra Lineup, 128-Core "Mystique" Kicker |url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2020/06/24/ampere-reveals-quicksilver-altra-lineup-128-core-mystique-kicker/ |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=The Next Platform |language=en-US}} The Altra Max CPUs provide 128 Arm v8.2+ cores per chip and run up to 3.0 GHz. They also support eight channels of DDR4-3200 memory and 128 lanes of PCIe Gen4.{{Cite web |author1=Francisco Pires |date=2022-02-16 |title=Ampere, Rigetti to Accelerate Hybrid Quantum Computing in HPC Environments |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ampere-rigetti-to-accelerate-hybrid-quantum-computing-in-hpc-environments |access-date=2022-09-13 |website=Tom's Hardware |language=en}}

Also in 2021, Oracle launched its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) using Ampere Altra processors.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-03 |title=Oracle Cloud Claims Arm Video Performance Advantage Over x86 Chips |url=https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/oracle/oracle-cloud-claims-arm-video-performance-advantage-over-x86-chips |access-date=2022-08-18 |website=Data Center Knowledge - News and analysis for the data center industry |language=en}}

In February 2022, Ampere and Rigetti Computing announced a strategic partnership to create hybrid quantum-classical computers.{{Cite web |last=Cutress |first=Dr Ian |title=Ampere Goes Quantum: Get Your Qubits in the Cloud |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/17255/ampere-goes-quantum-cloudbased-solutions-with-rigetti |access-date=2022-09-08 |website=www.anandtech.com}} The companies will combine Ampere's Altra Max CPUs with Rigetti's Quantum Processing Units (QPU) in cloud-based High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments.

In April, Microsoft previewed its Azure Virtual Machines running on the Ampere Altra. The VMs run scale-out workloads, web servers, application servers, open source databases, cloud native .NET applications, Java applications, gaming servers, media servers, and other processes.

In May, Ampere announced the sampling of AmpereOne CPUs, 5 nanometer chips based on its in-house Ampere-developed core.{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Timothy Prickett |date=2022-05-27 |title=Ampere Roadmap Has Four Future Arm Server Chips |url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2022/05/27/ampere-roadmap-has-four-future-arm-server-chips/ |access-date=2022-09-27 |website=The Next Platform |language=en-US}} AmpereOne will add support for DDR5 main memory and PCIe Gen5 peripherals.

On June 28, 2022, HPE became first tier-one server provider to offer compute with optimized cloud-native silicon for service providers and enterprises embracing cloud-native development with new line of HPE ProLiant RL Gen11 servers, using Ampere® Altra® and Ampere® Altra® Max processors, delivering high performance and power efficiency.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

During April 2023, Ampere released the Altra developer's kit, an IoT Prototype Kit based on Ampere Altra, aimed at cloud developers, available in 32-core, 64-core, and 80-core formats.{{Cite web |author1=Craig Hale |date=2023-04-10 |title=Ampere's new workstation could bring in a whole new dawn for developers |url=https://www.techradar.com/news/amperes-new-workstation-could-bring-in-a-whole-new-dawn-for-developers |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=TechRadar |language=en}}

In May 2024, Ampere updated its AmpereOne roadmap to 256 cores {{Cite web |title=Ampere updates roadmap, heads to 256 cores |url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/2126839/ampere-updates-roadmap-heads-to-256-cores.html |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=Network World |language=en}} and announced a joint effort with Qualcomm on CPUs and accelerators.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-16 |title=Ampere to integrate its CPUs with Qualcomm's cloud-based AI chips for running large models |url=https://siliconangle.com/2024/05/16/ampere-integrate-cpus-qualcomms-cloud-based-ai-chips-running-large-models/ |access-date=2024-07-25 |website=SiliconANGLE |language=en-US}}

Ampere's customers include Microsoft Azure,{{Cite web|url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/now-in-preview-azure-virtual-machines-with-ampere-altra-armbased-processors/|title=Now in preview: Azure Virtual Machines with Ampere Altra Arm-based processors|date=2022-04-04|language=en|access-date=2022-05-04}} Tencent Cloud, Oracle,{{Cite web |date=2021-05-21 |title=Ampere A1 Compute |url=https://www.oracle.com/cloud/compute/arm/ |access-date=2022-05-04 |language=en}} ByteDance, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Cloudflare, Equinix, Kingsoft Cloud, Meituan, Scaleway, UCloud, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Gigabyte, Inspur, Cruise,{{Cite web |last=Patel |first=Dylan |date=2022-06-01 |title=Is Ampere Computing's Cloud Native Marketing Fluff? – Siryn Ampere One 5nm Architecture, Cost Analysis, and IPO Analysis |url=https://semianalysis.com/is-ampere-computings-cloud-native-marketing-fluff-siyrn-ampere-one-5nm-architecture-cost-analysis-and-ipo-analysis/ |access-date=2022-09-21 |website=SemiAnalysis |language=en-US}} Hetzner, Project Ronin,{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Dylan |title=Ampere: Cloud biz buy-ins prove our Arm processors are ready |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/04/ampere_arm_cloud/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}} Wiwynn and Google Cloud Platform{{Cite web|url=https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/tau-t2a-is-first-compute-engine-vm-on-an-arm-chip|title=Expanding the Tau VM family with Arm-based processors|date=2022-07-13|language=en|access-date=2022-07-13}}

Cruise uses an Ampere Altra variant for its autonomous driving unit. The CPU was selected because of its throughput and low power consumption.

In 2021, Oracle, Microsoft, Tencent, and ByteDance committed to using Ampere's customized chips, first announced in May.{{Cite news |last=Nellis |first=Stephen |date=2021-05-19 |title=Ampere announces custom computing cores as it courts cloud customers |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/ampere-announces-custom-computing-cores-it-courts-cloud-customers-2021-05-19/ |access-date=2022-08-18}} In April 2022, Microsoft previewed Ampere Altra processors in its new Azure D-and E- series virtual machines.{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Dylan |title=Microsoft offers Azure VMs with Ampere Altra Arm processors |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/microsoft_ampere_azure_vm/ |access-date=2022-09-01 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}} The Dpsv5 series is built for Linux enterprise application types, and the Epsv5 series is for memory-intensive Linux workloads. They provide up to 64 vCPUs, include VM sizes with 2GiB, 4GiB, and 8GiB per vCPU memory configurations, up to 40 Gbit/s networking, and high-performance local SSD storage.{{Cite web |title=Microsoft brings Arm support to Azure virtual machines |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-brings-arm-support-to-azure-virtual-machines/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=ZDNET |language=en}}

In 2022, Microsoft's Ampere Altra-based Azure servers became the first cloud solution provider server to be Arm SystemReady SR certified.{{Cite web |last=Mann |first=Tobias |title=Arm, Microsoft say arch can be trusted with real server work |url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/arm_datacenter_certification/ |access-date=2022-09-09 |website=www.theregister.com |language=en}} The Azure VMs, powered by Altra processors, were also the first to be SystemReady Virtual Environment standard certified. SystemReady defines a set of firmware and hardware standards as a baseline for system development for software developers, original equipment vendors, and chipmakers.

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