Ampere Computing
| Company type | Private (subsidiary of SoftBank Group) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Semiconductor |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founder | Renée James |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara , United States |
Area served | Cloud computing, data centers |
Key people | Renée James (founder) |
| Products | ARM-based CPUs (Ampere Altra, AmpereOne) |
| Owner | SoftBank Group |
| Website | amperecomputing |
Ampere Computing LLC is a U.S.-based semiconductor firm specializing in the design of ARM-centered central processing units (CPUs) featuring high core counts, aimed primarily at cloud computing and data center sectors. Established in 2017 by former Intel chief executive Renée James, the company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and since November 2025, functions as an autonomous subsidiary under the ownership of SoftBank Group.
History
Founded toward the end of 2017 by Renée James,[1] Ampere Computing received its initial capital from The Carlyle Group. James brought together talent from MACOM Technology Solutions (previously known as AppliedMicro) along with other key industry professionals to focus on developing ARM-based server processors. The manufacturing of Ampere’s chips is carried out by TSMC.[2]
In April 2019, Ampere completed a significant financing round that included contributions from Arm Holdings and Oracle Corporation.[3] By June of the same year, Nvidia formed a collaboration with Ampere to enable support for CUDA on ARM architectures.[4] Toward the end of 2019, Nvidia unveiled a reference design for GPU-accelerated ARM servers integrating Ampere’s technology.[5]
Early in 2020, Ampere introduced the Ampere Altra processor lineup, featuring an 80-core model and the Ampere Altra Max with 128 cores; these processors are distinguished by their exclusion of simultaneous multithreading to better serve cloud workload demands.[6] That year also saw Ampere enter into a partnership with Oracle, which planned to offer bare-metal and virtual machine instances powered by Ampere Altra starting in early 2021.[7]
In November 2020, CRN recognized Ampere as one of the leading semiconductor startups.[8] The company expanded its collaborations in May 2021 by partnering with Microsoft, followed by acquiring AI startup OnSpecta in July to enhance AI inference capabilities for cloud-native environments.[9]
By April 2022, Ampere had confidentially submitted paperwork for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[10] In June, HPE announced that its Gen11 ProLiant servers would incorporate Ampere Altra processors.[11] Subsequently, Google launched T2A instances powered by Ampere Altra in July 2022, with Microsoft rolling out Azure instances based on the same technology in August.[12]
On March 19, 2025, SoftBank Group declared its acquisition of Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion; this transaction was finalized in November 2025, with Ampere maintaining its status as an independent subsidiary headquartered in Santa Clara.[13]
Products
Ampere designs ARM-based processors and CPU cores marketed under the Altra brand, focusing on applications such as database management, media encoding, web services, network acceleration, mobile gaming, AI inference, and scalable computing workloads.
On February 5, 2018, Ampere launched the eMAG 8180 processor featuring 32 Skylark cores fabricated using TSMC’s 16FF+ technology. This chip offers up to 3.3 GHz turbo frequencies, a thermal design power of 125 W, support for eight channels of 64-bit DDR4 memory accommodating up to 1 TB per socket, and provides 42 PCIe 3.0 lanes. The Skylark core architecture is derived from AppliedMicro’s X-Gene 3 design. Servers equipped with the eMAG 8180 were supplied by Packet and included configurations such as 128 GB DRAM, a 480 GB SSD, and dual 10 Gbit/s network interfaces. By September 2018, a variant with 16 Skylark cores became available as well.
2020
On March 3, 2020, Ampere introduced the Ampere Altra, an 80-core processor built on TSMC's N7 technology designed for hyperscale computing environments. This marked the industry's first server-class CPU featuring 80 cores while maintaining energy efficiency with a typical TDP of 161 W (specifically the Q80-30 variant). The processor utilizes semi-custom Arm Neoverse N1 cores operating at frequencies up to 3.3 GHz and offers a configurable TDP up to 250 W. It supports eight channels of 72-bit DDR4 memory with capacity up to 4 TB per socket, provides 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes, includes 1 MB of L2 cache per core, and features a shared L3 cache of 32 MB.
Alongside this launch, Ampere revealed its future plans, highlighting the Ampere Altra Max—a 128-core processor expected in 2021—and AmpereOne slated for release in 2022, both aimed at strengthening their foothold in the high-performance ARM server market.
2021
In 2021, Ampere released the Altra Max with 128 cores, targeting large-scale cloud service providers. This model shares the same platform and socket compatibility as the original Ampere Altra and maintains a single thread per core design. The Altra Max packs 128 Arm v8.2+ cores running at speeds up to 3.0 GHz, supports eight channels of DDR4-3200 memory, and offers 128 lanes of PCIe Gen4 connectivity.
That year also saw Oracle deploy its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) powered by Ampere Altra processors.
2022
February 2022 marked a collaboration between Ampere and Rigetti Computing to develop hybrid quantum-classical computing solutions by combining Ampere’s Altra Max CPUs with Rigetti’s Quantum Processing Units (QPUs), aimed at cloud-based High-Performance Computing (HPC) applications.
In April, Microsoft unveiled a preview of Azure Virtual Machines running on Ampere Altra processors, optimized for scale-out workloads such as web and application servers, open-source databases, cloud-native .NET and Java applications, gaming platforms, and media servers.
By May, Ampere began distributing samples of its AmpereOne CPUs—manufactured on a 5nm process and featuring proprietary cores—with added support for DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen5 peripherals.
On June 28, HPE became the first leading server manufacturer to provide cloud-native silicon compute solutions optimized with new HPE ProLiant RL Gen11 servers powered by Ampere® Altra® and Altra® Max processors. These servers enhance both performance and energy efficiency for cloud service providers and enterprises embracing cloud-native development methodologies.
2023
In April 2023, Ampere introduced the Altra developer's kit, an IoT prototype platform built around Ampere Altra processors intended for cloud developers. This kit is offered in configurations featuring 32, 64, or 80 cores.
2024
In May 2024, Ampere expanded the AmpereOne roadmap to include processors with up to 256 cores and announced a partnership with Qualcomm to integrate CPUs with accelerators aimed at improving performance for cloud-based AI workloads.
Customers
Ampere’s customer base features prominent cloud and technology enterprises such as Microsoft Azure, Tencent Cloud, Oracle, ByteDance, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Cloudflare, Equinix, Kingsoft Cloud, Meituan, Scaleway, UCloud, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Gigabyte, Inspur, Cruise, Hetzner, Project Ronin, Wiwynn, and Google Cloud Platform.
Cruise integrates a customized version of the Ampere Altra CPU within its autonomous vehicle systems due to its superior throughput capabilities and power efficiency.
Since 2021, companies including Oracle, Microsoft, Tencent, and ByteDance have committed to deploying Ampere’s tailored processors. In April 2022, Microsoft launched preview Azure virtual machines powered by Ampere Altra chips—the Dpsv5 series targeting Linux enterprise applications and the Epsv5 series designed for memory-intensive Linux workloads. These virtual machines provide up to 64 vCPUs with configurable memory options ranging from 2 GiB to 8 GiB per vCPU, deliver networking speeds up to 40 Gbit/s, and feature high-performance local SSD storage.
Throughout 2022, Microsoft’s Azure servers based on Ampere Altra processors became the first cloud infrastructure servers to obtain Arm SystemReady SR certification along with SystemReady Virtual Environment standard certification. These certifications establish essential firmware and hardware standards critical for software development consistency and OEM integration.
External links
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- Santa Clara, California-based companies
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- Technology businesses founded in 2017
- American enterprises established in 2019
- Cloud computing sector
- U.S. computer companies
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- Companies affiliated with The Carlyle Group
- Mergers and acquisitions in 2025
- 2017 California establishments
- SoftBank portfolio enterprises
- American companies established in 2019