Qualcomm enters server CPU market with 24-core ARM chip

[Mr_Troll]

Qualcomm has revealed its plans to enter the server CPU market with a custom processor based on a design from U.K. chip company ARM.

 

 

Qualcomm becomes the latest vendor to build a server chip using the ARM architecture, which is widely used in smartphones and tablets. Some believe ARM can challenge x86 in the data center because of its low-power characteristics.

It's aiming the chip at hyper-scale customers such as Facebook and Google, as well as service providers and large enterprises. It says the chip will be suitable for cloud workloads including big-data mining, machine learning, and Infrastructure as a Service and Platform as a Service offerings.

Qualcomm demonstrated a pre-production chip in San Francisco on Thursday. It's a purpose-built system-on-chip, different from its Snapdragon processor, that integrates PCIe, storage and other features. The initial version has 24 cores, though the final part will have more, said Anand Chandrasekher, Qualcomm senior vice president.The company is shipping the part to big customers now for testing, he said, though he declined to name them. He also wouldn't say when a product will be available commercially; Qualcomm will provide an update on that during the next year, Chandrasekher said.

 

 

Still, it's been working on the part for two years and demonstrated it Thursday running a version of Linux, with the KVM hypervisor, streaming HD video to a PC. The chip was running the LAMP stack -- Linux, the Apache Web server, MySQL, and PHP -- and OpenStack cloud software.

Chandrasekher was joined by the CEOs of Mellanox and Xilinx, who are working with it to build a complete server platform. Mellanox is designing network cards to work with the SOC, while Xilinx said it will build programmable chips to speed up particular workloads.

 

“We believe this will enable the market, which today is fully controlled by one player, to have diversification and improved performance,” said Xilinx CEO Moshe Gavrielov, referring to Intel.

 

 

Qualcomm joins a long list of companies targeting the same space. AMD, Cavium, AppliedMicro, Marvell, and Broadcom already have ARM server processors on the market.

But Qualcomm is a powerful entrant thanks largely to its huge smartphone business, and it appears willing to invest heavily.

 

"We realize this is a long-term investment that will take multiple years," said Qualcomm President Derek Aberle.

 

 

It's early days for ARM chips in servers, and it doesn't seem like Qualcomm is in danger of being left behind. A few big companies have been kicking the tires with ARM servers, including PayPal and Baidu, but the market is still broadly in the testing phase, said Patrick Moorhead, lead analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.

 

One of the biggest challenges is that the software stack needs to mature, he said.

 

Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight64, differentiates between two classes of hyperscale customers. Giants like Facebook and Google design their own servers and write their own software. For those companies, moving to a new architecture is more feasible if they see sufficient benefits, he said.

But service providers like Amazon and Microsoft, with AWS and Azure, are running workloads for customers who developed their software for x86 servers. Those will be harder to move over.

In addition, Intel has responded to ARM with low-power versions of its Xeon chip, and with other server processors based on its Atom core, which was originally designed for mobile devices.

 

"You can’t look at Intel’s product roadmap and say they’re missing something," Moorhead said.Still, ARM's model of licensing its architecture to multiple vendors makes it easier for a challenger to x86 to emerge, Brookwood said."ARM is really the only alternative for companies that want to do something unique. You have everyone competing within this common ecosystem, and that's a game-changer," he said.

 

Big service providers are often reluctant to talk about what they do in their data centers, but some companies have been kicking the tires with ARM servers. AppliedMicro said this year that PayPal has deployed its ARM chips in servers, and Marvell has said Baidu is using its ARM products.

 

French hosting company Online, a subsidiary of telecom giant Iliad, has also reportedly build a bare-metal cloud based on thousands of ARM servers.

 

 

Driving these companies is a desire to cut energy costs and make better use of power in their data centers."The limiting factor is how much power you can get in the building," Gavrielov of Xilinx said. "If you can come up with a low-power solution, that will be very attractive to them."

 

Woah that came out of nowhere. Never expected this. We have a new Cpu builder coming soon apparently. Hope it gives intel a run for its money.

 

Source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2990868/qualcomm-enters-server-cpu-market-with-24-core-arm-chip.html

[VioDuskar]

i'd be fine with qualcomm moving into the desktop market for average and power consumers. intel needs some competition. 

i hope they eventually move to consumer markets that aren't smartphones and tablets. 

[patrickjp93]

Well this should be embarrassing... Avoton and Xeon D against ARM in micro servers... Best of luck Qualcomm. Try to save face this time...

[patrickjp93]

i'd be fine with qualcomm moving into the desktop market for average and power consumers. intel needs some competition.

i hope they eventually move to consumer markets that aren't smartphones and tablets.

Qualcomm doesn't have the architectural or compute strength to get above entry level for desktops, and before you go quoting Geekbench, that is one benchmark that has been optimized at the assembly level for ARM. It's as biased as you can get. Run the Linpack bench suite on the 810 or Exynos 7420 and compare against Bay Trail. ARM is still miles behind.

[qwertywarrior]

i wonder what Qualcomm has to offer this late in the ARM server game. its already saturated

[Tech_Dreamer]

i would prefer qualacomm HD graphics over intel HD graphics

[JefferyD90]

The key is that server's DONT have to be powerful, they have to be power efficient.  In most situations servers are rated on their power use, not their horsepower.

[bogus]

i wonder what Qualcomm has to offer this late in the ARM server game. its already saturated

Price?

Usualy that's a gateway.

[VioDuskar]

Qualcomm doesn't have the architectural or compute strength to get above entry level for desktops, and before you go quoting Geekbench, that is one benchmark that has been optimized at the assembly level for ARM. It's as biased as you can get. Run the Linpack bench suite on the 810 or Exynos 8420 and compare against Bay Trail. ARM is still miles behind.

that doesn't mean they won't have plans further down the line, i don't expect them to start production overnight, but in another 10 years when AMD is in it's death throughs, i hope qualcomm can give intel a fight for the sake of competition. 

 

i might be wrong, i'd also like to see AMD rise like a pheonix from the ashes with zen, but i doubt it. 

[patrickjp93]

that doesn't mean they won't have plans further down the line, i don't expect them to start production overnight, but in another 10 years when AMD is in it's death throughs, i hope qualcomm can give intel a fight for the sake of competition. 

 

i might be wrong, i'd also like to see AMD rise like a pheonix from the ashes with zen, but i doubt it.

People seem to not like the idea, but I stand by what I've been saying for nearly 2 years: cut AMD in half and give the pieces cross-wise to Nvidia and Intel. That will ignite competition on both fronts. Add Nvidia's Denver designs to AMD's Zen IP and Intel will have a massive problem on its hands. Give Intel the Radeon IP and add it to Intel's 14nm process which is already making 700mm sq dies for Knight's Landing, and Nvidia has a massive problem to contend with. Even if all Intel did at the start is push out Arctic Islands on a slimmer node and increase clocks, Nvidia would have a nightmare on its hands with Intel's production scale for lower prices.

[rhyseyness]

That thing is GIANT!

[finn3732]

Could you use this in a gaming PC?

[ZetZet]

Could you use this in a gaming PC?

no because it's arm. unless you want to play android games on it, then yea.

[MrTiC]

That thing is GIANT!

A brick(ed) chip

[Ex14]

Woah that came out of nowhere. Never expected this. We have a new Cpu builder coming soon apparently. Hope it gives intel a run for its money.

 

Source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2990868/qualcomm-enters-server-cpu-market-with-24-core-arm-chip.html

erm.... you do know ARM chips are not compatible with x86 right?

Well I guess you could run some version of linux. But I'm not that hardcore and would rather stick top windows (for now)

[themaniac]

i wonder what it would take for a company to get a license for x86

[bcredeur97]

no because it's arm. unless you want to play android games on it, then yea.

This is why someone should port a full modern-graphics PC game to android. The day a handheld device could run it in max settings at a high res would be a huge accomplishment.

[bcredeur97]

erm.... you do know ARM chips are not compatible with x86 right?

Well I guess you could run some version of linux. But I'm not that hardcore and would rather stick top windows (for now)

I do know that an x86 emulator can be run on ARM.

But ARM does have a lack of instructions though... So very limited in some aspects

[ZetZet]

This is why someone should port a full modern-graphics PC game to android. The day a handheld device could run it in max settings at a high res would be a huge accomplishment.

http://shield.nvidia.com/games/android

[patrickjp93]

This is why someone should port a full modern-graphics PC game to android. The day a handheld device could run it in max settings at a high res would be a huge accomplishment.

They already bring full games to Linux, which you can run on x86, ARM, PowerPC, MIPS, and even Solaris (Oracle's Proprietary Architectures).

[NeatSquidYT]

I do know that an x86 emulator can be run on ARM.

But ARM does have a lack of instructions though... So very limited in some aspects

because you can doesn't mean you should. It would have a huge performance hit. There would be little to no point in it.

[Curufinwe_wins]

People seem to not like the idea, but I stand by what I've been saying for nearly 2 years: cut AMD in half and give the pieces cross-wise to Nvidia and Intel. That will ignite competition on both fronts. Add Nvidia's Denver designs to AMD's Zen IP and Intel will have a massive problem on its hands. Give Intel the Radeon IP and add it to Intel's 14nm process which is already making 700mm sq dies for Knight's Landing, and Nvidia has a massive problem to contend with. Even if all Intel did at the start is push out Arctic Islands on a slimmer node and increase clocks, Nvidia would have a nightmare on its hands with Intel's production scale for lower prices.

I can disagree with you on other topics but still say that is the best idea put forth for the overall market.

[Misanthrope]

Hopefully Tek Syndicate's own Dr. Diaper (Wendell) can take a look at it, probably will he usually does enterprise stuff.

[Misanthrope]

I can disagree with you on other topics but still say that is the best idea put forth for the overall market.

 

There's the issue with Nvidia purchasing AMD's CPU business or anyone else: that breaks a pretty significant cross licensing deal between AMD and intel.

[Curufinwe_wins]

There's the issue with Nvidia purchasing AMD's CPU business or anyone else: that breaks a pretty significant cross licensing deal between AMD and intel.

Indeed, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be the best thing for consumers.