Ampere Computing, a leading company in developing Arm-based CPUs for data centers, is reportedly exploring a potential sale. This development could have far-reaching implications for the data center chip market and affect Oracle’s cloud computing strategy.
Ampere has been working with a financial adviser to gauge potential buyers’ interest. The company, founded in 2018 by former Intel executive Renee James, is now open to discussions with larger industry players about a possible transaction.
Ampere has consistently advanced its product line of multi-core processors. Its chips have been adopted by major cloud providers, including Oracle, Microsoft, and Google. The company believes its energy-efficient chips will offer a competitive advantage as data center power demands continue to rise.
The semiconductor industry is undergoing a fundamental shift as companies vie for a larger share of the AI infrastructure development market. The industry is transitioning to accelerator chips and away from traditional central processing units. Ampere faces stiff competition from established players like AMD and Intel, which have rolled out their own high-core-count x86 processors.
Oracle is Ampere’s primary financial and strategic backer and is likely to play a major role in determining the company’s future. Oracle’s cloud computing division heavily relies on Ampere’s chips, which opens the possibility that it could acquire the company. However, it’s unclear whether Oracle would be interested in bringing chip design in-house.