AMD has recently announced their partnership with ARM to bring ARM-based Opteron 64-bit multi-core processors for multiple markets. These will be released in 2014 for cloud and data-centers to start with as the new chips will be optimized for ‘dense, energy efficient servers.' Integrated into the chips will be AMD’s SeaMicro Freedom supercomputer fabric, which links the CPUs into clusters and reduces the power draw (CPU input/output virtualization) by eliminating 90% of the motherboard components (leaving only the CPU, DRAM and the SeaMicro Freedom AISC). Essentially the server’s motherboard is shrunk-down to the size of a credit card, which is then linked together with other boards (100 or so at a time) at low latency and compiles them into a single system. The processors themselves will not require that much power either, but then again they’re slated for cloud servers, which don’t require massive amounts of ‘crunch’ prowess to run applications. AMD states that different companies require different server systems, which is where their partnership with ARM comes in as the new chips can be tailored to different server needs and requirements. Not to mention that the partnership could also bolster AMD’s fiscal income, as their revenue has been on a steady decline with annual losses of about 25% on average and have even announced they will be cutting 15% of its workforce.
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