tech
Arm releases first in-house chip, with Meta as debut customer
Arm is making its first CPU, pivoting from only licensing its architecture to giants like Apple, Nvidia, Amazon and Google. CNBC got an exclusive first look.
TL;DR
- Arm has released its first in-house central processing unit, the AGI CPU, after more than 35 years of licensing its instruction sets.
- Meta is the first customer to adopt Arm's new AGI CPU for its AI data centers, valuing the flexibility and additional player it brings to their supply chain.
- The move is seen as a "game changer" for Arm, potentially capturing a significant portion of Meta's substantial capital expenditures.
- The AGI CPU is designed for artificial general intelligence, offering high performance-per-watt efficiency, which is crucial for power-constrained data centers.
- The CPU is manufactured at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) fabrication plants on a 3-nanometer node.
- Arm's entry into physical silicon production positions it in direct competition with its traditional customers.
- The demand for CPUs is increasing as they are becoming a "bottleneck" for agentic AI, with market growth potentially exceeding GPUs by 2028.
- Arm has invested significantly in its chip lab facilities in Austin, Texas, to support the development and testing of its new CPU.