Ampere Computing LLC
AMPERE
TypePrivate
IndustrySemiconductors
Founded2017
FounderRenée James
Headquarters
Santa Clara, California
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Renée James, (Chairman and CEO)
  • Todd Underwood (CFO)
  • Atiq Bajwa (Chief Architect)
ProductsIntegrated circuits
Microprocessors
Cloud-native processor
Number of employees
1100 (2021)
Websiteamperecomputing.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Ampere Computing LLC is an American fabless semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California that develops processes for servers operating in large scale environments. Ampere also has offices in: Portland, Oregon; Taipei, Taiwan;[2] Raleigh, North Carolina; Bangalore, India;[2] Warsaw, Poland;[3] and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.[4]

History

Ampere Computing was founded in the Fall of 2017 by Renée James,[5] 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.[6][7][8][9] Ampere Computing is an ARM architecture licensee and develops its own server microprocessors.[10] Ampere fabricates its products at TSMC.[11]

In April 2019, Ampere announced its second major investment round, including investment from Arm Holdings and Oracle Corporation.[9] [12] In June 2019, Nvidia announced a partnership with Ampere to bring support for Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA).[13][14] In November 2019, Nvidia announced a reference design platform for graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated ARM-based servers including Ampere.[15]

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 hyper-threading.[16]

In March 2020, the company announced a partnership with Oracle.[17] In September of that year, Oracle said it would launch bare-metal and virtual machine instances in early 2021 based on Ampere Altra.[18]

In November 2020, Ampere was named one of the top 10 hottest semiconductor startups by CRN.[19]

In May 2021, the company announced a partnership with Microsoft.[20] In July of that year, Ampere acquired OnSpecta, an AI technology startup.[21] After the acquisition, the companies were able to demonstrate four times faster acceleration on Ampere-based instances running AI-inference workloads.

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.[22]

In June 2022, HPE announced their Gen11 ProLiant system would use Ampere Altra and Ampere Altra Max Cloud Native Processors.[23]

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.[24]

Products

Ampere develops ARM-based computer processors and CPU cores under their Altra brands.[16] 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.[25]

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.[26] The Skylark cores were based on AppliedMicro's X-Gene 3.[26] [27] Packet offers servers with the eMAG 8180 and 128 GB DRAM, 480 GB SSD, and 2x 10 Gbit/s networking.[28] On September 19, 2018, Ampere announced the availability of a version featuring 16x Skylark cores.[29]

2020

On March 3, 2020, Ampere announced the Ampere Altra featuring 80 cores fabricated on TSMC's N7 process for hyperscale computing.[30][31][32] It was the first server-grade processor to include 80 cores and the Q80-30 conserves power by running at 161 W in use.[30] The cores are semi-custom Arm Neoverse N1 cores with Ampere modifications.[33] 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.[31][32]

Ampere also announced their roadmap with Ampere Altra Max (2021) in development and AmpereOne (2022) defined.[34]

2021

The 128-core Altra Max was released in 2021 and targeted hyperscale cloud providers.[35] It uses the same server socket and platforms as Ampere Altra, and both products have one thread per core.[36] 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.[37]

Also in 2021, Oracle launched its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) using Ampere Altra processors.[38]

2022

In February 2022, Ampere and Rigetti Computing announced a strategic partnership to create hybrid quantum-classical computers.[39] The companies will combine Ampere’s Altra Max CPUs with Rigetti’s Quantum Processing Units (QPU) in cloud-based High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments.[39]

In April, Microsoft previewed its Azure Virtual Machines running on the Ampere Altra.[25] 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.[25]

In May, Ampere announced the sampling of AmpereOne CPUs, 5 nanometer chips based on its in-house Ampere-developed core.[40] AmpereOne will add support for DDR5 main memory and PCIe Gen5 peripherals.[40]

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.

2023

During April 2023, Ampere released the Altra developers kit, a IoT Prototype Kit based on Ampere Altra, aimed at cloud developers, available in 32-core, 64-core, and 80-core formats.[41]

Customers

Ampere’s customers include Microsoft Azure,[42] Tencent Cloud, Oracle,[43] ByteDance, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE),[23] Cloudflare, Equinix, Kingsoft Cloud, Meituan, Scaleway, UCloud, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Gigabyte, Inspur, Cruise,[44] Hetzner, Project Ronin,[45] Wiwynn and Google Cloud Platform[46]

Cruise uses an Ampere Altra variant for its autonomous driving unit. The CPU was selected because of its throughput and low power consumption.[44]

In 2021, Oracle, Microsoft, Tencent, and ByteDance committed to using Ampere’s customized chips, first announced in May. [47] In April 2022, Microsoft previewed Ampere Altra processors in its new Azure D-and E- series virtual machines.[48] The Dpsv5 series is built for Linux enterprise application types, and the Epsv5 series is for memory-intensive Linux workloads.[48] They provide up to 64 vCPUs, include VM sizes with 2GiB, 4GiB, and 8GiB per vCPU memory configurations, up to 40 Gbps networking, and high-performance local SSD storage.[49]

In 2022, Microsoft’s Ampere Altra-based Azure servers became the first cloud solution provider server to be Arm SystemReady SR certified.[50] 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.[50]

References

  1. ↑ "Former Intel President at Reins in ARM Chip Startup". Data Center Knowledge. 2018-02-05. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  2. 1 2 "Ampere Computing headquarters and office locations". Craft.
  3. ↑ "Warsaw". amperecomputing.com. Retrieved 2023-07-02.
  4. ↑ "Contact – Ampere Computing". Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  5. ↑ Burt, Jeffrey (2022-03-02). "Designing Chips With The Cloud And Edge In Mind". The Next Platform. Retrieved 2022-10-06.
  6. ↑ Clarke, Peter (2018-02-05). "Former Intel exec leads high-performance processor startup". EENewsEurope. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  7. ↑ Clark, Don (2018-02-05). "She Was No. 2 at Intel. Now She's Taking Aim at the Chip Maker". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-11-09.
  8. ↑ Spencer, Malia (2022-04-12). "Former Intel president Renee James' semiconductor startup company files for an IPO". American City Business Journals.
  9. 1 2 Cutress, Ian (2019-04-15). "Ampere Computing: Arm is Now an Investor". AnandTech.
  10. ↑ "StackPath". www.electronicdesign.com. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  11. ↑ "Former Intel president Renee James' semiconductor startup company files for an IPO". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
  12. ↑ Levy, Ari (2019-09-27). "Oracle discloses $40 million stake in Ampere, a chip start-up founded by former Intel president Renee James". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  13. ↑ Cutress, Ian (2019-12-23). "80-Core N1 Next-Gen Ampere, 'QuickSilver': The Anti-Graviton2". AnandTech.
  14. ↑ Newsroom, NVIDIA. "NVIDIA Brings CUDA to Arm, Enabling New Path to Exascale Supercomputing". NVIDIA Newsroom Newsroom. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  15. ↑ Santo, Brian (2019-11-18). "Nvidia Delivers on Promise to Support Arm". EE Times.
  16. 1 2 "Ampere's 128-Core Processor Challenges Intel and AMD in a Cloud-Based Processor Showdown - News". www.allaboutcircuits.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  17. ↑ Mann, Tobias. "Ampere Targets Intel, AMD With Cloud-First Chips, Oracle Partnership". sdxcentral.
  18. ↑ "Ampere's Arm Data Center Chips Come to Oracle Cloud". Data Center Knowledge. 2020-09-30. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  19. ↑ Martin, Dylan (2020-11-23). "The 10 Hottest Semiconductor Startups Of 2020". CRN. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  20. ↑ Trueman, Charlotte (2022-04-05). "Microsoft launches Azure VMs powered by new Ampere Altra Arm-based chips". Network World. Retrieved 2022-08-02.
  21. ↑ Desk, AIT News (2021-07-29). "Ampere To Acquire OnSpecta To Accelerate AI Inference On Cloud-Native". AiThority. Retrieved 2022-08-09.
  22. ↑ Nishant, Niket (2022-04-11). "Chipmaker Ampere confidentially files for U.S. IPO". Reuters.
  23. 1 2 Burke, Steven (2022-06-28). "Processor Power Play: HPE Puts Ampere ARM On ProLiant". CRN. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  24. ↑ "Why Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud love Ampere Computing's server chips". Tech Monitor. 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  25. 1 2 3 "Microsoft Finally Brings ARM-Based VMs to Azure". The New Stack. 2022-04-15. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  26. 1 2 "X-Gene 3 gets a second chance at Ampere with a new 32-core 16 nm ARM processor". WikiChip Fuse. 2018-02-05. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  27. ↑ Cutress, Ian. "Ampere eMAG in the Cloud: 32 Arm Core Instance for $1/hr". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  28. ↑ "Living he Arm Server Dream". www.packet.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2020. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  29. ↑ "Ampere Ships First Gen ARM Server Processors". WikiChip Fuse. 2018-09-19. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  30. 1 2 "Ampere Altra Is First ARM-based 64-bit Server Processor, Packs 80 Cores, Challenging Intel Xeon And AMD EPYC - Appuals.com". Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  31. 1 2 Kennedy, Patrick (2020-03-03). "Ampere Altra Launched with 80 Arm Cores for the Cloud". ServeTheHome. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  32. 1 2 Cutress, Dr Ian. "Next Generation Arm Server: Ampere's Altra 80-core N1 SoC for Hyperscalers against Rome and Xeon". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  33. ↑ "Ampere Gears Up to Launch 7 nm, 80-Core Arm Chip for Cloud Data Centers". Data Center Knowledge. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2019-11-23.
  34. ↑ "Ampere Altra Max 128-core server processor available as company lays out 5 nm roadmap". ZDNet. Retrieved 2022-08-11.
  35. ↑ Comment, Sebastian Moss. "Ampere unveils 128 core Altra Max Arm chip". www.datacenterdynamics.com. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  36. ↑ Morgan, Timothy Prickett (2020-06-24). "Ampere Reveals "Quicksilver" Altra Lineup, 128-Core "Mystique" Kicker". The Next Platform. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  37. ↑ Francisco Pires (2022-02-16). "Ampere, Rigetti to Accelerate Hybrid Quantum Computing in HPC Environments". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  38. ↑ "Oracle Cloud Claims Arm Video Performance Advantage Over x86 Chips". Data Center Knowledge - News and analysis for the data center industry. 2021-06-03. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  39. 1 2 Cutress, Dr Ian. "Ampere Goes Quantum: Get Your Qubits in the Cloud". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
  40. 1 2 Morgan, Timothy Prickett (2022-05-27). "Ampere Roadmap Has Four Future Arm Server Chips". The Next Platform. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  41. ↑ Craig Hale (2023-04-10). "Ampere's new workstation could bring in a whole new dawn for developers". TechRadar. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  42. ↑ "Now in preview: Azure Virtual Machines with Ampere Altra Arm-based processors". 2022-04-04. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  43. ↑ "Ampere A1 Compute". 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  44. 1 2 Patel, Dylan (2022-06-01). "Is Ampere Computing's Cloud Native Marketing Fluff? – Siryn Ampere One 5nm Architecture, Cost Analysis, and IPO Analysis". SemiAnalysis. Retrieved 2022-09-21.
  45. ↑ Martin, Dylan. "Ampere: Cloud biz buy-ins prove our Arm processors are ready". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  46. ↑ "Expanding the Tau VM family with Arm-based processors". 2022-07-13. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  47. ↑ Nellis, Stephen (2021-05-19). "Ampere announces custom computing cores as it courts cloud customers". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-08-18.
  48. 1 2 Martin, Dylan. "Microsoft offers Azure VMs with Ampere Altra Arm processors". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  49. ↑ "Microsoft brings Arm support to Azure virtual machines". ZDNET. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
  50. 1 2 Mann, Tobias. "Arm, Microsoft say arch can be trusted with real server work". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
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