The Japanese investment company SoftBank Group (SBG) is taking over Ampere Computing. Ampere is a chip designer that makes server-grade silicon based on Arm architecture.
SoftBank is paying $6.5 billion for this acquisition. Ampere’s most important investors, Oracle and Carlyle, are selling their shares, according to The Register.
Ampere specializes in multicore CPUs. The Ultra model it launched in 2023 is an example of this. Ultra has between 96 and 192 cores, all compatible with the Armv8.6+ architecture and version 5 of the Server Base System Architecture – but also customized with changes that Ampere itself has implemented. In 2024, Ampere announced the AmpereOne Aurora, which will reach 512 cores.
This enormous chip is designed to process AI workloads. And that seems to be exactly what interests SoftBank. The Japanese company reports that the acquisition of Ampere furthers its strategic vision and commitment to innovation in AI and computing.
Collaboration with other SBG companies
SBG CEO and chairman Masayoshi Son (photo) is quoted in Ampere’s announcement about the deal. He believes that the future of Artificial Super Intelligence requires groundbreaking computing capacity. According to Son, Ampere’s expertise in semiconductors and high-performance computing accelerates AI innovation.
The SoftBank announcement also mentions that Ampere will work together with other SBG companies. This could mean that those companies will adopt Ampere processors. Some of these companies, such as the Korean/Japanese web giant LY Corp, operate on a hyperscale. SoftBank also runs a telecom company in Japan. Meanwhile, its Vision Fund investment arm has shares in TikTok operator ByteDance. And in countless large-scale e-commerce companies, enterprise tech companies and AI startups.
If SBG can persuade companies to choose Ampere’s products, many workloads could shift away from x86.
Impact on Arm’s future
It is unknown what the acquisition means for Arm’s ambitions to create its own server processors, of which Meta is said to be a customer. Perhaps SoftBank will find a way to run two server processor companies. Or it will focus Arm on direct sales of customization and let Ampere sell the commodity equipment.